A Week of Awakening
by tcsced
Summary: This fic takes place shortly after the events of my last fic, LIFE FINDS A WAY, except this is a different proposal story, so instead of Owen proposing to Claire at home, like at the end of LIFE FINDS A WAY, he finds a more romantic, creative way to propose to her in this fic. Claire, Owen, Maisie and baby Aiden are featured as well as Franklin and Zia too. This fic covers the sp
1. CHAPTER 1

MONDAY

Ding!*

The door to the elevator opened as two women stepped off. They worked on the second floor of the old warehouse building that housed a number of different businesses, including a speciality pharmacy, a few law offices, a moving company and the Dinosaur Protection Group. The two women gave Claire a quick nod as they exited the doors she was about to enter. "That's the dinosaur lady that works on the top floor," Claire heard one girl say to the other. She recognized one and not the other, assuming one of them must have been new. It wasn't the first time she overheard people calling her the dinosaur lady and giving her funny looks. She had a reputation, especially since the second incident on the island and at Lockwood's estate close to two years prior.

Claire stepped onto the elevator and pressed "5" to take her up to the top floor of the building. The building owner advised Claire when she rented out the space a few years prior that the top floor was subject to drafts due to poor insulation and despite being on the top floor, had somewhat poor WiFi connections sometimes. However, he gave her a great deal on the rent and besides, it had lots of windows and the best view of the city around her so she took it.

When the door opened to the fifth floor, Claire, dressed in a tunic length blue chambray dress with shoulder straps, buttons down the front and a belt across the waist, with complimenting gray heels to round out her business casual attire, stepped off the elevator directly into the large room that housed the Dinosaur Protection Group. It was a bustling Monday morning outside but as she looked out into the room in front of her, it seemed as if half of her employees were missing. The majority of the people that worked for Claire were college interns and volunteers. Zia, Franklin and a handful of others, including two graphic designers, a public relations specialist and a freelance journalist were the only ones who worked full-time for Claire and actually enjoyed the benefits of being on the weekly payroll. Claire's eyes immediately fell to Zia when she walked in. She looked at her paleoveterinarian with suspicion. "Where is everyone?" Zia shrugged her shoulders at her boss and replied, "I don't know. You told them on Friday to make sure they were on time today because there was a politician friend of yours coming to meet with you about some legislation and you wanted everyone to be well dressed and working hard when she got here." Zia could sense the immediate tension rising in the room. Claire huffed and walked to her desk and set her purse down. She stood with her hands on her hips for a moment taking inventory of who was present and who was missing.

A couple of minutes later, the late offenders casually walked off the elevator laughing and carrying on about their weekend and how "that party was the bomb!" Claire immediately walked over to the cluster of desks that belonged to them and made it known how she felt about their tardiness. The four of them were college age, young and spoiled, with little to no experience in the work field. They took the internship as part of their curriculum requirements for the spring semester of college. Franklin and Zia often found themselves rolling their eyes at the newbies, talking about how they must have taken this internship because they thought it was going to be all fun and games, not realizing that dealing with dinosaurs was really an important matter, especially after the creatures were released out into society. No one worked harder than Claire to ensure federal funding to get them back to a safe environment where they would be free from human interference, and the humans would be free from any danger of attacks. "Excuse me, but when did you guys decide that you run things around here?" Claire narrowed her eyes at the four kids. She stood over them, hands back on her hips, looking down at them with a look Franklin had seen a few times when he worked at Jurassic World. He had only come in contact with Claire a handful of times when they both worked there, and although he never had any run-ins with her personally, he had witnessed her giving an ultimatum to a couple of other employees before and he knew this was not about to be pretty. The four youngsters stopped laughing and looked up at their boss in shock. "I asked you a question." She waited for one of them to respond. Jake, a young man not a day over 20, finally spoke up for the group. "We're sorry. We didn't know an unpaid internship required such strict curfews." Zia sucked in her breath from across the room. "Ah shit." She knew she had just witnessed a horrible mistake on the part of the intern. Claire cocked her head to the side before responding. "Unpaid or not, you are here to do a job, whether it's for my benefit or yours, and I expect every single one of you to be on time." She then turned to the rest of the people in the room. "That goes for everyone in this room. This organization is set up for a reason, and it's not to show up to work whenever you want to and to goof off and to sit on your ass all day. It's a real job and if any of you don't take it seriously then you're more than welcome to walk out the door right now." Claire had all eyes on her. All the attention in the room was focused on the fiery redhead, something she was good at achieving. She had done it enough times at the park and hadn't lost her touch in scaring the Hell out of her employees. "Anyone have any problems with that?" Claire looked around the room daring someone to say something back. "Okay good. Now that you know what's expected of you, let's get to work." The small group of new interns mumbled something behind her back as she turned to walk back to her desk, but Claire had a keen sense of hearing and turned on her heels to face them again. "Go home." Jake and his three comrades looked at Claire in disbelief. She didn't put up with games at work, and she had had enough. "I'm serious. Get up. Go home or back to school or wherever you want, but you're not staying here today. You can come back tomorrow with a different attitude and work ethic or you can choose to not come back at all. Take the rest of the day to decide what you want to do because I don't have time to decide for you. Some of us here want to work to make a difference for these animals and if you don't, then you can find somewhere else to do your internship." The four college kids got up and walked together to the elevator without saying a word. Claire glared at them until the elevator door was completely shut and they were on their way downstairs.

Once they were gone she took a deep breath, smiled and said, "Okay. Let's get back to work everyone." She ran her hands down the middle of her dress as if dusting herself off like she'd just been in the kitchen baking. No one said a word the rest of the day about the incident that took place that morning. Claire was a little more laid back as a boss at the DPG than she had been working at Jurassic World, and she believed in having a little fun at work and making it enjoyable for herself and her employees, but what she didn't believe in was laziness and a lack of work ethic. Claire spent the rest of her Monday organizing some upcoming trips to some of the elementary schools in the area and meeting with the politician friend of hers who used to work in Washington D.C. as an environmental specialist. Dr. Sage was a former biology professor at Harvard who went on to work in politics to try to gather funding for climate control programs across the country. She had retired a few years prior and moved to the west coast but still had some connections in the political world. Claire introduced her to everyone in the office when she arrived, and she was especially impressed with Zia's medical background and the way everyone in general seemed so passionate about the cause in front of them. Claire took Dr. Sage to lunch to discuss some possible funding opportunities but despite her extreme support for what Claire was doing, she couldn't convince any of her fellow politicians to help secure funding for a sanctuary outside of the country to transport the dinosaurs to in order to let them live out the rest of the their lives. Claire was discouraged but made it known right away that she wasn't giving up. "You would think they would want to get them out of here, so they don't have to worry about any attacks." Surprisingly, there hadn't been many attacks since the dinosaurs were set free from Lockwood's estate. A couple of sightings had occurred, but they were mostly small herbivores who posed no danger to society and hid or ran from any humans that tried to get close to them anyway. "Claire, I believe in what you're doing, and you shouldn't give up. I will keep my eyes and ears open and let you know if there is anything I can do to help. In the meantime, here is a little something for you." Dr. Sage slid a small envelope across the table at the restaurant to Claire. Inside was a check made out to the DPG for $5,000. Claire thanked her friend for the donation and made it clear she had no plans of giving up any time soon. "Trust me, I don't plan on giving up this fight. I feel like I owe it to these creatures to give them the life they deserved to have from the beginning, one they never had from the moment they were brought back to this world, that they are long overdue for."

That evening Claire left work and walked next door to the building that housed the daycare center downstairs that Franklin's mom owned. "Ms. Dearing, how are you?" Claire was greeted by one of the daycare workers on her way down the hall to pick up her baby. "I'm good, how are you?" Claire replied. "I'm good. Hey listen, don't tell the other moms I said this, but Aiden is the best baby in her room." The young girl lowered her voice as she bragged on Claire's soon to be five month old. "She is always smiling and happy, and she hardly ever fusses." Claire smiled at the young girl's remarks about her child. It was true. Aiden usually only fussed when she was hungry or sleepy. She had her father's laid back nature when it came to life. It didn't take a lot to make her happy...some bouncing play time in Mommy's lap followed by cuddle time on Mommy's chest and some milk and she was happy, the same way her daddy was happy just spending time with his three girls, his motorcycle and his cabin by the lake. Claire entered the infant room to find her baby in a playpen with a little boy around her same age. They were both on their tummies playing with some infant toys together. "Hi Claire," Franklin's mom walked up behind her and greeted her. "Aiden's been a little fussy today. I think she's teething, but she's got a little cough too. Being in daycare automatically exposes kids and babies to germs but it's good for them to build up immunity early." Claire had prepared herself for the teething phase. "Yeah, I've got some medicine at home. I'll probably go ahead and give her some tonight and see how she feels. She loves her teething rings too so that should help some as well, I hope!" Mrs. Webb pulled Aiden out of the playpen and handed her to Claire. Claire's face lit up as she held her baby in her arms. This had become her favorite part of every day. "Hi Peanut! My sweet girl, how are you?" Aiden's face automatically lit up as soon as she was in Claire's arms. Claire kissed her baby on the cheek and gathered her diaper bag from one of the other daycare attendants and made her way home.

That night at dinner Claire put some medicine in a bottle with the breast milk she had pumped, hoping to ease her baby's pain and cough. After dinner Owen gave Aiden a bath while Claire helped Maisie with her science homework. "Here she is...all clean!" Owen walked into the living room holding his naked baby out in front of him like she was covered in mud or anything else dirty. Claire was usually amused by his attempt to be cute, but knowing Aiden was getting a cold, she disapproved this time. "Owen, did you not see me put cough medicine in her bottle earlier? I think she's getting a little bit of a cold. Please put her pajamas on her before she gets even sicker." "Okay, Mommy," Owen said as he bounced their little one down the hall in his arms. He re-emerged a few minutes later with Aiden all bundled up in a footed sleeper with a matching hat on her head. "Warm enough now?" Owen asked as he raised one eyebrow at his girlfriend and 11 year old. "Much better," Claire said as he handed Aiden to her. Maisie kissed Aiden on her head as Claire stood up to put Aiden down to sleep for the night. She had heard Aiden crying a little while Owen was bathing her, but then she calmed down once bath time had ended. If there was one thing Claire and Owen both knew about their baby, it was that she loved the water. Bath time was always a pleasurable experience for her. Claire knew Aiden must not have been feeling well if she cried during bath time. She started fussing as Claire adjusted her in her arms to try to breastfeed her. It was clear she didn't want to be moved around too much or bothered. She finally latched on to Claire's breast and sucked for a little while. She usually fell asleep while eating, but that night she was as irritable as ever. Claire burped her and rocked her for a little while with no success in getting the little one to calm down. It took an entire hour for Aiden to fall asleep. "I think the girl at day care jinxed us about you never being fussy, Peanut." She rocked, bounced and sang to her baby, and finally Aiden fell asleep in her arms.

Claire gently laid Aiden down in her crib and walked down the hall passing the hallway bathroom where Maisie was brushing her teeth. "It's past your bedtime missy, what are you still doing up?" Maisie looked up at Claire with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. "It's only 8:30. My bedtime isn't until 9:00!" Claire's exhaustion had clearly kicked in. "Really? It feels like it's 10:30 already." She glanced over at the clock on the wall across from the sink and apologized to her oldest child. "I'm sorry, Mais. I'm tired sweetie." She kissed Maisie on the head and made her way back to the living room. She threw herself on the couch next to Owen who was watching television. He put his arm around her and she nuzzled into him. Thirty minutes later Claire woke up to the sounds of Maisie saying goodnight to her and Owen. "Goodnight my sweet girl," Claire said sleepily. Maisie scooted back down the hall to her bedroom. "Come on, let's go to bed babe. You fell asleep on me as soon as you sat down half an hour ago." They went to bed, but neither of them got much sleep that night. Aiden's cough got worse throughout the night, and she woke up crying every other hour. At only four and a half months old she already slept through most of the night, usually only waking up once, but teething and having a cold at the same time kept her up crying almost all night. Claire and Owen took turns getting up with her, knowing they both had a long day ahead of them. "We're gonna need a lot of caffeine in the morning," Claire said as she got up for the third time in the middle of the night to soothe her baby back to sleep. Owen grumbled, "I might as well get up and go start a pot now."


	2. CHAPTER 2

TUESDAY

Tuesday morning Maisie woke up to a quiet apartment. She was usually the last one to get up in the mornings, Claire being the first. Usually Owen was helping Claire in the kitchen either with Maisie's lunch or with gathering Aiden's things together for day care. Maisie walked past Aiden's nursery and looked in the open door that was usually ajar. Aiden was not in her crib. She then made her way to the kitchen that was still dark, except for the dim stove light Owen left on at night in case anyone needed to get up for a drink of water or something for the baby. Aside from the occasional nightmares she still had, Maisie was a heavy sleeper, and Aiden's crying seldom woke her up at night. Confused as to why Claire, Owen and Aiden weren't up yet, she turned on the living room light and walked back down the hall to Claire and Owen's bedroom. Their door was usually closed or ajar, but this time it was wide open. She walked in quietly on her bare feet, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of their room. They were sitting up in bed together, both asleep, Claire's head resting on Owen's shoulder, and Aiden asleep against Claire's chest. She figured they finally gave up at some point during the night trying to get Aiden to sleep in her crib and just settled for letting her sleep on Claire's chest all night. It was her favorite place to sleep anyway. Maisie knew it was past time for them to get up and even though she would have loved to play hooky and stay in bed all day with them, the mini Claire in her knew school and work were important and that they needed to get out of bed. She climbed in their bed next to Owen and made a point not to do it lightly. Owen stirred as soon as he felt her next to him. "Hey kiddo, good morning." "Morning," she said back to him. "Aren't you guys late getting up?" Owen sat up straight immediately. "What time is it?" "Almost 7:00am." Maisie crawled out of their bed to go get dressed for school. "Claire, babe, we gotta get up!" He shook Claire's arm and she jerked a little. Her jerk scared Aiden out of her sleep and she started crying. "Oh God, we had two straight hours of peace, and now here we go again." Claire handed Aiden to Owen and got up, walked around to his side of the bed and took her right back from him. "Come here, Peanut, shhhhh, its okay." She bounced Aiden in her arms while giving orders to Owen and Maisie. Owen was instructed to make Maisie's lunch and not to fill her lunchbox with junk food. Maisie was instructed to finish getting dressed so Owen could take her to school. Claire nursed Aiden and hurriedly dressed her for daycare. She threw on some black skinny dress slacks and a white button down blouse with black heels and threw her hair up in her famous ponytail that she rocked almost every day anyway. She ran her fingers through her bangs and put her makeup on as fast as she could with Aiden watching her from her car seat she parked right outside her master bathroom door.

Miraculously, Claire dropped Aiden off at day care and was still ten minutes early for work. She was exhausted but wasn't about to be late when she scolded four of her interns the day before for the same thing. She got upstairs to the office and sat down, regretting that she didn't have time for coffee before leaving the apartment. A few minutes later the four late offenders from the day before showed up together again and took their seats and got straight to work. She watched from her desk, impressed with the way they must have learned from their actions the day before. Everyone was at work on time, busy and motivated, or so it seemed. A few minutes later, Jake's cell phone went off and he answered it. Claire didn't have a problem with cell phones being out and about in the office as long as her employees didn't abuse the privilege and managed to get their work done. But abuse it, he did. He took the call and instead of asking to step out for a moment he propped his feet on his desk and leaned back and chilled while holding a conversation with a friend of his about which beer was best for the upcoming Super Bowl party he was throwing at his dorm. Zia, whose desk was close to Jake's, saw Claire walking over. "Dude, you better hang up now if you know what's good for you," she whispered to him while nudging his arm. Jake decided to ignore her and carried on with his conversation. Claire's heels clicked louder and louder the closer she got to him. As she passed the elevator doors she heard them open but didn't even pay attention to who was getting off the elevator and stepping into her office. "Hey!" Jake yelled as his feet were thrown off the top of his desk. "Young man, give me the phone." "Ms. Dearing, I'm an adult. You can't treat me like a child." Claire suddenly smelled a hint of coffee in the air but she was so caught up in her debacle with Jake, she didn't bother to turn around to see who brought coffee in. "If you insist on acting like an immature, entitled, selfish child then yes I can. Now either give me the damn phone or exit this building and don't bother coming back this time." "Ah Hell." Owen mumbled under his breath. He had been the one that stepped off the elevator into the office with coffee for Claire. He was standing at her desk watching the whole scene take place which brought back memories of the park. He loved this take charge attitude she possessed, especially when she was in charge and someone tested her on that, except of course when it was him on the receiving side of an argument with her. Suddenly, Jake stood up and grabbed his keys. "Ms. Dearing, you can't kick me out of this internship." Claire cackled in his face. "Oh watch me, Mr. Hillard." "Man, this is bullshit!" He stormed off around her and got on the elevator. "Anyone else want to follow him?" Claire was hot. She was fuming mad, exhausted from the night before and baffled by the lack of work ethic the young man possessed that just left her office." "We're here to work, Ms. Dearing," said Allison, one of the other interns who had been part of the late group with Jake the day before. She had learned her lesson but clearly he had not. "Good. And you can call me Claire. I've said that from Day 1. Guys, this is like a mission. One we need to take very seriously. Please show me that you're willing and capable of giving 100% every day towards our goal here, otherwise, this isn't the place for you. I need dedicated people who want to make a difference in these animals' lives, not sit here and just pretend to care." Everyone in the room shook their heads in agreement, partly because they were all frightened by their boss a little bit. Claire walked back towards her desk to find the person who made her office smell so good. "Owen!" She was more excited to see the coffee than to see him. She grabbed the cup he had set down on her desk and took a sip. "I figured you would need that." She kissed him quickly on the cheek and thanked him. "You saved me this morning with this. I hope you got yourself some." Owen chuckled. "Ha, I guzzled mine down in my truck. I really could use another one." He was on his way to his warehouse down the street to work on a sign for a new local restaurant. His side business of making wooden and metal signs for the public and small companies in the area was growing and he was getting more requests and orders by the week. "That poor kid is gonna need something strong after being emasculated by you this morning. You're just missing your corporate bob again to go along with that attitude." Claire rolled her eyes at Owen and told him to go on to work so she could set an example for her employees and get to work herself.

The rest of the day was routine. Claire had a few phone meetings with a few of the local schools to set up dates for her to come and talk to the kids about dinosaurs and the importance of safety involved both in keeping them safe and humans safe as well. A handful of schools had pulled out from participating in any future visits from the DPG due to their disapproval of the dinosaurs being set free. Maisie's school luckily was not one of those schools and Claire had visited there several times in the past before the incident involved in releasing the dinosaurs took place. They were on her list of schools to visit soon, mostly the kindergarten and 1st grade classes. Everyone else worked hard the rest of the day as well, Zia on the phones trying to get politicians to talk to her, Franklin revamping the DPG's website, and everyone else working on graphics, banners, signs, articles, etc. for various publications involving dinosaur rights. Claire was glad to see after two rough starts so far that week, her team was working hard and looked like they really wanted to make a difference. Maybe that one bad seed just needed to be excused so that everyone else didn't follow in his footsteps and go down the disillusioned path with him.

Owen picked Aiden up a little early that evening and surprised Claire at work with her. She was standing over a large table going over some ideas for visual aids and posters to take to the schools to show the kids the following week. She had a group of about six or seven employees standing around the table with her and again, she was so focused on her work she heard the elevator door open, but didn't register the fact that she should turn around and see who just came in. She had her back to the elevator and one of the young graphic design interns saw Owen walk in with the baby on his hip and said, "Awwww!!" Claire, who was leaned over the table, stood up straight and turned around and saw two of her three favorite people stepping off the elevator. "Awwww, is right!" she said. He walked over to her with Aiden and she immediately reached for her baby and took her from Owen's hold. "Can you say hi to everyone, Peanut?" Claire bounced her in her arms, still standing at the large table with everyone. Most everyone in her office had seen or met Owen once or twice, but Aiden had only been there once before. Claire didn't bring her upstairs to the office, mainly because she was still so young and didn't want her around so many people, aside from everyone she was around at day care every day. Everyone in the room gazed lovingly at Aiden and told Claire how much her baby looked just like her. Owen stood there and rolled his eyes, but smiled at the same time. He had been getting that remark since the day their baby was born, but he agreed, even saying it to Claire himself as she held Aiden in her arms for the first time. "Claire, where did the name 'Peanut' come from?" Zia walked up and inquired about the little one's funny nickname. Unlike everyone else at the DPG, Zia had been around Aiden pretty frequently, coming over to Claire's apartment often to work on things for the DPG or just to visit. Zia was like Claire's right hand man, or woman rather. She was one of the first people Claire hired when she started the DPG and she proved to be a valuable part of Claire's team, especially during the mission back to the park and to Lockwood's estate. She saved Owen's life, so if nothing else Claire and Owen were both indebted to her for life. "'Peanut' is just her nickname. Because she's so little. I don't know, it just came out one day shortly after she was born and I've been calling her that ever since." Owen chuckled a little bit and said, "the poor kid is going to grow up not knowing what her real name is." Claire rolled her eyes at Owen and laughed. "She will know what her real name is. I'm sure you'll make sure she knows what her 'full' real name is." She put emphasis on the word "full", still making it known how she was a little upset that Owen changed Aiden's middle name behind her back in the hospital. Owen proudly spoke up. "She sure will!" It was 4:30pm and Claire, not wanting to let her employees think regular visitors were acceptable, told Owen to go on home with Aiden and she would be there by 5:15pm. She usually kept everyone until 5:00pm, but Zia managed to persuade her to just let everyone go a few minutes early that day. "Alright, we'll cut out a little early today. But everyone make sure you're here on time tomorrow morning again, and let's please not start the day tomorrow like we started the last two mornings this week, okay?" She smiled a little, reassuring her team that she didn't have to be the scary, cold boss she was known to be at Jurassic World. Everyone scurried off quickly, excited to be dismissed a few minutes early that day. Franklin walked up on his way out and said hi to Aiden but that's as much as he could muster. Aiden smiled back at him and he tickled her a little in Claire's arms. "You're getting more comfortable with her, see? Maybe you'll actually be able to hold her one day, Franklin." Franklin backed up and threw his hands up. "Oh no, I'm good!" He said his goodbyes to Claire and Owen and quickly made his way to the elevator. Owen laughed, knowing how timid Franklin was. "Yeah I think he's good. Please don't ever let him hold our child." Claire laughed back and walked over to grab her purse from her desk. Aiden coughed a little in Claire's arms and she asked Owen if anyone at the day care had mentioned anything about her cough when he picked her up. She had asked them that morning to call her cell phone during the day if Aiden's cough got worse. "Mrs. Webb said she coughed a little but they gave her some of the medicine down in her bag and she was okay after that for the most part. She said usually a cough is worse at night." "Yeah, unfortunately she's right, huh." Claire knew they would probably be up most of the night with her again.

That night Aiden woke up one less time than she did the night before. Claire sat in the rocking chair in Aiden's nursery that Owen built for her and tried breastfeeding her fussy baby for a second time since her bedtime. She looked down at her hungry infant and said, "They say milk only makes you cough more, but what else are you supposed to eat? All this fussing and you don't even have any teeth to chew anything yet." Aiden looked up at her mother intently, sucking and using both hands to hold on to Claire's breast as if she knew Claire would take it away from her at some point. When she did, Aiden cried and fussed for thirty minutes nonstop until Owen finally came in and took over. "Go lay down. I'll try to get her back to sleep." Claire was feeling frustrated and sad that her baby was not feeling well and for some reason despite singing to her, rocking her, and nursing her, she couldn't get her to calm down. She let Owen take the reigns as she walked back to their bedroom and climbed into bed. She laid on her back looking up at the ceiling and listening to her child cry from the other side of their bedroom wall. About five minutes later the crying came to a stop. She laid there for five more minutes waiting for the crying to start over again but it didn't. She got up and walked back into the nursery to find Owen rocking Aiden and letting her suck on his finger. "I promise my hands are clean. I haven't touched anything since I came to bed. But look!" He was rubbing her gums with his finger and she was drifting off to sleep. Claire, in all her tricks, knew this one, but for some reason hadn't thought to try it yet. "Babe, I don't know where my head is. Why didn't I think of that?" He leaned his head back in the rocking chair and glanced up at her. "Claire, you've been working so hard lately at work and at home, you can't think of everything, it's okay." She walked over and ran her fingers through his hair as he rocked their baby to sleep. "I think the medicine is helping her cough. Her gums were itching tonight. That's all." "Thank you," Claire whispered back. She kissed Owen on the head and walked back to their bedroom, leaving him to finish rocking their little one back to sleep. He could tell something was bothering her.

When Owen came back to bed Claire was lying on her side curled up in her pillow staring off into space. Owen climbed in bed next to her and extended his arm out so he could hold her. She scooted in closer and rested her head and hand on his chest. "Hey, what's wrong, babe?" Claire was silent for a few seconds before answering. "Nothing. I'm fine." He knew better. "No you're not. Talk to me." Without looking up at him she said, "Owen, why didn't I think to rub her gums?" He laughed it off, knowing how busy she'd been at work and how tired they both were after the night before of not getting any sleep. "Babe, seriously? It's no big deal." Claire finally turned to look up at him. "Yes it is a big deal, Owen. I'm her mother. I should think of things like that. I should have thought to do that. What is wrong with me?" He started running his thumb over the back of her shoulder, something he knew she enjoyed when they laid together in bed. "Claire, it's not your job as a mother to think of everything. You don't have to have the answers to everything all the time. You're human. You're not perfect. I'm not perfect. No one is. Really, it's okay. Rubbing her gums is just something I thought of on a whim. It's not like I knew in advance that there was some trick to it." Claire laid her head back down and stayed silent for a few minutes. "Owen, sometimes I wonder if I'm doing anything right by those two children. Sometimes I think I know what I'm doing and sometimes I have this feeling of hopelessness where I don't have a clue. I feel like I'm letting them down. Sometimes I feel like they deserve better, that I don't deserve them. They are the greatest thing that ever happened to me, yet I don't feel worthy of them or their love sometimes. What if I really am letting them down? All those years of thinking I wasn't cut out to be a mother and sometimes I think I was right." Owen could feel her voice cracking and looked down to see tears coming out of her eyes. "Is Claire Dearing really having a moment of weakness right now? I can't believe what I'm hearing. Claire, babe, seriously, are you kidding me? You are the greatest mother in the world to those two children. You've been an amazing mother since the day Maisie came into our lives. From Day One you gave her everything she needed to feel safe and loved and you know it. And the way you held our baby girl in your arms and sang her to sleep for the first time in the hospital? My God, do you know what it took for me to fight back the tears as I watched you sing to her that night? Claire, as parents we're not always going to have all the right answers. We're learning as we go along. But you have done nothing but love and care for those two children in all the right ways since they came into our lives, and I can't wait to watch you continue that going forward. You're a great mom, Claire and you will continue to be a great mom. I have no doubts about that." Claire laid on his chest and continued to sob. Owen finally placed his hand under her chin to make her look up at him. He kissed her gently on the lips. She didn't fight it and let him linger there as long as possible. When he finally pulled away from her he wiped a tear from the corner of her eye with his thumb. "And hey, I thought I was the greatest thing that ever happened to you." He winked at her, hoping to cheer her up. She gave him a slight smirk back. "You are too. Even though I still want to strangle you some days, you and those two children have changed my life in more ways than I can count." She brought her hand up to cup his cheek and kissed him, this time holding her kiss longer than he held his. "I love you, Owen. I'm sorry." He ran his hands through her hair again and then went back to rubbing the back of her shoulder. "You have nothing to apologize for. But you don't have to worry about being a good mom, okay? You've got this." Claire smiled into his chest and said, "That's the best compliment you could ever give me." Owen cut his eyes at her. "I thought telling you you're gorgeous every day was the best compliment I could give you. You mean, I've had it wrong this whole time?" Claire chuckled. "I don't mind that compliment either, but telling me I'm a good mom means the world to me, Owen. It means I'm doing something right." "Well, I mean both with all my heart." They soon drifted off to sleep, but only for an hour before their baby woke up again. Another long night was ahead of them.


	3. CHAPTER 3

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday morning got off to a better start than Tuesday morning did. Maisie woke up to find everyone else already up and moving about the apartment like normal. Claire and Owen were both tired, but managed to get a little more sleep Tuesday night than they did Monday night. Owen took Maisie to school and Claire dropped Aiden off at day care. Aiden had been in a good mood all morning, not fussing one time. She woke her parents up at 5:30am wanting to play and by the time Claire usually got to day care with her she was sleepy again, but that morning she was wide awake. She told Franklin's mom to call her if Aiden's cough got worse and she would take her to the pediatrician.

As she stepped into her office that morning, everyone was working hard on their delegated tasks. It seemed everyone had finally gotten the picture about what Claire expected out of them. She spent the day helping design posters and banners to display at the upcoming march for animal rights in the city. It wasn't a march for dinosaurs in particular but the DPG believed dinosaurs should be allowed the same rights as any other animal and they planned to make sure their posters were visible during the event in a couple of weeks.

Claire went to check on Aiden during lunch. Mrs. Webb greeted Claire with good news when she entered the infant room at the day care. "Aiden's been feeling much better today. I've only heard her cough once or twice. Her gums are still a bit itchy but she's been enjoying her teething ring. "Yeah, she won't take a pacifier. She usually sucks her thumb," Claire said. "I was a thumb sucker too. She must have gotten that from me." Mrs. Webb told Claire a lot of babies are so attached to their pacifiers, that she was lucky Aiden was saving her a few bucks somewhere. "Oh, but I'm beginning to go broke on teething rings instead!" They shared a wink and after spending her entire lunch hour with her "peanut" she went back to work.

When she got back to work that afternoon, Claire decided to check with Zia on updates on any possible dinosaur sightings. "I haven't heard of any lately. It's almost February so I think they must be hibernating or something for now. You know, they were used to island weather, not Northern California weather in the middle of winter." Claire hummed in agreement and then noticed something sticking out under a few pieces of paperwork on Zia's desk. "What's that?" Zia thought she was in trouble. It was a business card with her name, number and a picture of a camera on it. "Oh Claire, I'm sorry. I had asked James to design a logo for me for some photography I'm doing on the side. He brought me a couple of designs back today and I meant to throw them in my purse and forgot. This doesn't interfere with my work here, I promise!" Claire knew Zia was fully dedicated to her work at the DPG. She was the last person Claire had to worry about not doing her job. "Zia, calm down, it's okay. I was just curious." Zia let out a big sigh and relaxed. Claire suddenly wondered if she was paying Zia enough. "Zia, are you struggling with rent or bills or anything? Because if you need a little bit of a raise, I can afford to give you one. Lord knows you work hard enough." Zia felt bad that Claire thought by her having a side job, it meant she was underpaid. "Claire, this is just a hobby that turned into somewhat of a side gig on weekends and evenings. I have a lot of friends and former classmates who like to have their picture taken a lot and I always had an eye and love for photography and they know that and took advantage of it and it just kind of turned into a thing. But of course if you wanna give me a raise I won't turn it down!" She laughed a little and Claire put her finger over her mouth. "Shhh...I don't want everyone to hear you. Then everyone will want a raise and I can't afford to give everyone more money right now." "Claire you don't pay half these people anyway. They're interns." Claire lowered her voice a little. "Some of them are paid interns and some of them are not. It depends on the program and the college they're attending. Anyway, we can talk about your raise later. I had no idea you were doing this on the side! I think that's amazing." Zia felt relieved that her boss approved of her hobby turned side job. "Thanks, Claire. I was afraid you would think I wouldn't be focused enough at work if I told you I was doing this on the side. I wasn't intentionally trying to hide it from you, I just-" Claire, in a hushed tone, cut Zia off. "Zia, you are the hardest working person here besides me. You're my sidekick in all of this. I don't have to worry about this getting in the way of your work. And besides, if we ever need updated pictures for the website, I know who to go to now to get a good deal!" She winked at Zia and walked back to her desk. For a while Zia had wanted to bring up the fact that Claire didn't have any professional family pictures on her desk, assuming she didn't have any at home either. But she didn't know how to mention it without trying to get herself hired for the job. Now was the perfect opportunity for her to make her move. She followed Claire back to her desk. "Uh Claire, speaking of this side job of mine, you need some professional family pictures. You don't have any. Weren't these taken with your cell phone?" She pointed to two pictures on Claire's desk that were taken with her cell phone. One was of Maisie and Aiden and the other was of Claire and Owen. There was a third picture taken of Aiden from the hospital photographer. It was taken the day she was born. Claire never got to watch Aiden get her first photos taken because she was unconscious from the hemorrhaging she suffered. She was getting a blood transfusion during Aiden's first few hours of life. At Owen's nonstop request to take some maternity pictures, Claire found a photographer on Instagram and had some private maternity photos at home but never shared them with anyone outside of herself, Owen and Maisie. She didn't want to take them in the first place, fearing it would upset Maisie seeing as how she wasn't biologically theirs and never had a mother who took maternity pictures of her. Owen talked to Maisie and she was actually excited about the pictures, and they included her in some of the photos with them. Claire's favorite photo was of Maisie sitting on Owen's shoulders kissing Claire on the lips while Owen was knelt down kissing Claire's baby bump. Claire was a modest, private person when it came to that sort of content however, and she never brought the pictures to work to show Zia or anyone else, let alone display them on her desk. They stayed at home on the mantle and night stands where she felt they belonged. "Hey, what's wrong with my fancy iPhone photography, huh?" Claire got a little playfully defensive. Zia wanted to give Claire something she could cherish in return for taking a chance on her straight out of college and hiring her as her first employee of the DPG. "Claire, Aiden is almost five months old and you guys don't have any family pictures. You should let me take some, free of charge of course!" Claire thought about it for a minute and then agreed. "You know what, you're right. Aiden is getting older and I want her to have some professional baby pictures. I guess we do need to take some family shots too. I'll get with Owen tonight and see when he wants to do it and let you know. I have to coordinate outfits and everything." Zia rolled her eyes at her boss. "Of course you do."

That evening Claire tossed around the idea of a family portrait session to Owen. Zia had told Claire she was free that weekend but that she had a few things already lined up for the next few weekends after that. He thought it was a great idea. "Babe, I've been thinking the same thing! We need to take some pictures. But who do we know that can take some professional photos?" Claire smiled, happy that she had a connection. "Zia is going to take them this Saturday." Owen looked dumbfounded. He never pictured Zia as the artsy type. She was a former military girl, turned paleoveterinarian who was all about science and animals and medicine. "Zia?!" Claire sighed and responded to his shock. "Yes, Zia. She's been doing some photography on the side lately on the weekends and she showed me a few of the sessions she's done and they look great!" Owen shrugged his shoulders and agreed to it. "Hey she saved my life. I can't exactly ever say no to her again on anything, can I?" Claire shook her head. "No you can't." Maisie chimed in with her opinions of the family portrait session. "Claire, where are we going to take the pictures? And can I wear my Chucks?" Those high top black Converse tennis shoes were all the child ever wanted to wear on her feet. Claire tried to get her to occasionally wear other shoes but she clung to those high tops for dear life. At least she let Owen and Claire buy her a new, clean pair shortly after she came home to live with them. Claire had already spent that afternoon thinking through all the details of what she envisioned for their photo shoot since it was somewhat last minute. "I know where I would like to have the pictures taken," Owen remarked. Claire knew what he would say and she had the same location in mind. "I want to take them out by the cabin and the lake too." He looked at her, somewhat surprised at her response. "Really?" "Yes," she nodded back at him. "I figured you'd want to go inside of a studio where everything is crisp and pristine and perfect," he said. Claire, though she knew that would be beautiful as well, wanted her family pictures taken in the place where she enjoyed spending time with her family the most. She wanted them to be taken at the home Owen built for her, for them. "Yeah, I was thinking we could wear white or cream colored Henleys and jeans and boots since it's still cool outside. You and I both have Henleys already. I just have to go find Maisie and Aiden something similar to match. Or I could wear a white button down blouse or something. That could be our semi-dressed up look. Then we could take some in some plaid button downs and jeans and boots." All Maisie focused on was the word "boots". "Boots, huh?" Claire gave her oldest child a pleading look. "Yes, boots. It's still winter time. I'll let you pick them out though. We can go shopping tomorrow afternoon after school, how's that sound? And you can take a few pictures in your Chucks too. Maybe I'll buy you a white or cream pair to match our shirts." Claire hadn't had much of a chance to spend some one on one time with Maisie outside of the house since Aiden had been born and they both knew this was a great opportunity for them to spend some quality time together. "Owen, can you pick Aiden up from day care tomorrow evening?" He agreed, seeing how excited Maisie looked to be spending a girl's afternoon out with Claire after such a long time.

Later that night Owen ran into Maisie's room discretely while Claire nursed Aiden. He suddenly had this great idea that he could propose to Claire during the middle of their photo shoot. He had been wanting to move to this next step in his relationship with Claire for a while but wanted to figure out the perfect way to propose to her that would be both exciting and surprising. Maisie knew about the engagement ring Owen had bought for Claire before they even broke up. He had shown it to Maisie months ago and had been hiding it in one of his old Navy uniform pockets in the back of his closet, knowing Claire never messed with his uniforms and would never find it there. He had been wanting to propose to Claire for a long time and she knew it was only a matter of time anyway because they talked about it when she found out she was pregnant with Aiden but she didn't want to have a shotgun wedding and made him promise if they ever got married that it would be after Aiden was born. A lightbulb went off in his head once Claire told him about her desire to have professional family portraits taken. "Maisie, you know I want to propose to Claire at some point, right?" She nodded her head, sitting Indian style on her bed with a book in her lap. Her eyes got big with excitement when he told her of his plan. "Do you think it would be a cute idea if I proposed to Claire while we are having our family portraits taken this weekend? That way we would have the proposal documented forever!" Maisie was all for it. "Owen, yes, and I can make a sign to hold up in the pictures that says 'she said yes' on it!" The kid was creative and smart. Owen still swore sometimes she was Claire's biological child. "That's cute! I like that. I just hope she really does say yes." He winked at her but Maisie knew he was afraid of Claire's reaction to a proposal. Claire was very untraditional about certain things and although her mother was old fashioned and harped on her for having a child out of wedlock, Claire wasn't going to do anything she wasn't comfortable with. "Owen, she's going to say yes. Don't worry." "I don't know, kid. Sometimes I wonder." Claire and Owen were still working on their relationship. They had grown to love each other more than ever since the second incident and bringing Maisie home with them, and Aiden's birth only locked their love in even more, but there was still that battle for control between them which sometimes still caused them to butt heads and want to strangle each other. However, they had vowed to communicate with each other better and work towards the bigger goal and be better for each other and for their children. "Owen, I love this idea. You have to do it!" Claire suddenly showed up in Maisie's doorway and Owen jumped when he heard her voice. "What kind of serious private matters are you two discussing in here?" Maisie thought quickly for something to say that wouldn't sound suspicious. "I was asking Owen if he could show me a picture of the white Chucks on his phone so I can see if I'll like them tomorrow when we go shopping." Claire looked on, halfway not believing her oldest. "Hmmm, okay. Well you'll know when you try them on. It's your bedtime now. Lights out." She blew Maisie a kiss from the doorway and walked down the hall to turn the lights off in the living room. Owen leaned in and whispered to Maisie "I'm going to text Zia tomorrow and tell her what I have planned, okay? I'll see if she has any cute ideas in mind for poses or how I can pop the question in the middle of the photo shoot. Not a word to Claire, okay?" Maisie rolled her eyes. "Let me go get her and tell her right now." Owen glared at her. "Okay smarty pants, say something and see what happens." She stood on her knees on her bed and gave him a hug. "You better go now before she comes back in here. You know she'll sneak around the corner and listen to see if we're both up to no good or not." Owen raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side. "My God, you're just as smart as she is, you know that? It freaks me out sometimes how much you two are alike. Let me go now before she suspects something more. Goodnight Mais." He kissed her on the forehead and turned her lamp off and closed her bedroom door behind him.

He made his way to his and Claire's bedroom to find her changing out of her clothes and into a tank top and pair of shorts to sleep in. "Hey sexy." He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He kissed her on her neck and then gently nibbled on her ear. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against him. He felt her hands reaching up to rest of top of his, but before she had a chance to hold his hands he turned her around and pulled her into him as close as he could get her. "You still think I'm sexy even after having a baby?" Aiden was almost five months old and Claire had managed to lose almost all of her baby weight in those few months following Aiden's birth. There wasn't much to lose to begin with. She had been all baby during her pregnancy. She hadn't put on any extra weight besides the baby and a little around her hips which Owen didn't want her to lose anyway. Owen looked her up and down before going in for a kiss. "Are you kidding me? You're sexier now than you ever have been!" After they shared a long passionate kiss, she asked him again. "Seriously Owen, I don't want us to get so busy being parents and working full time jobs that we fall into a routine and forget about each other." Owen wasn't worried like Claire was. "Babe," He was leaving kisses up and down her neck and collar bone. "In case you didn't hear me a minute ago, I still find you very attractive. You're the most gorgeous woman I've ever met, and I'm not just saying that because you're my girlfriend and the mother of my children. And trust me, I don't plan on letting us forget about 'play time' with each other." Their breathing was starting to get heavier. "Claire?" She hummed "hmm?" in response into his neck, kissing him back. "You got any sales going on tonight?" Claire was familiar with this joke. It was one of his dirty jokes he used on her when they first started seeing each other casually on the island years ago. Claire was the classiest person he knew but he also knew he could get her riled up with a good dirty innuendo every once in a while. Often using each other's last names in bed, Claire whispered into his ear and said, "Yes Mr. Grady, I have a sale going on right over there on that bed." He hummed into her ear. "Hmm, what kind of sale is it, Ms. Dearing?" She then delivered the punchline. "Clothes are 100% off all night long." He gave her that crooked, devilish grin she couldn't get enough of sometimes and she gave him the same look right back. He kept her closely attached to his body as he walked backwards towards their bed, letting her guide him since she could see where they were going. When they reached the foot of the bed she pushed him down on his back before standing above him and removing her tank top. She crawled on top of him, straddling his waist, and running kisses up and down his neck and chest. "My turn to be on top this time, sir." "You love fighting for control, don't you?" He could feel his body relaxing under her. "More than anything, Mr. Grady." He didn't care. In that moment he wanted her to control him. They paused their foreplay only long enough to lock their bedroom door in case a certain 10 year old happened to walk in on them. Claire turned on the baby monitor on the night stand beside the bed so she could hear if Aiden woke up fussing during the night. "Owen, I love you." Claire pulled Owen upright by his T-shirt and kissed him passionately on the lips before pulling his shirt over his head and exposing his abs. "I love you more, Claire." He wanted so badly in that moment to ask her to spend the rest of her life with him, but his plan to propose during their family photo shoot was the best idea he felt he had come up with to propose to her so he kept that topic of discussion at bay and simply made love to her until neither of them could move from sheer pleasure and exhaustion. They hadn't had many opportunities to have some one on one time lately, so when an opportunity arose and they weren't dead tired, they took it. Aiden only woke up twice that night, once at 2:00am and again at 4:50am. Claire took the reigns for round one and Owen took the reigns for round two. They spent the time in between feedings and calming their teething baby down wrapped in each other's bodies, intertwined from their shoulders down to their feet.


	4. CHAPTER 4

THURSDAY

"Whew, that was the best sleep we've had in a while," Owen mumbled as he shifted under his girlfriend. It was Thursday morning, and Claire woke up with one leg draped between both of Owen's legs and her head on his chest. Clothes or no clothes, it was usually how she woke up most mornings. Even if they didn't fall asleep in each other's arms some nights, Claire somehow still managed to scoot into his embrace in the middle of the night and wake up hearing his heartbeat in her ear almost every morning. It hadn't started out as an intentional act, but after the first incident at the park a few years prior, the nightmares filled their nights with horrifying images that caused one of them to wake up shaking and the other to hold on tight until the trauma died down. It gradually turned into them holding each other automatically every night as a way to feel safe and protected from the dreams that shook their memories. Sometimes she woke up with his face nuzzled into her neck while he spooned her from behind with his arms wrapped around her waist. If they weren't embraced in each other it was usually because their 10 year old still had an occasional nightmare too and crawled into bed with them or their infant wanted to sleep on Mommy's chest instead of in her crib in the wee hours of the morning right before it was time for everyone to get up.

Claire stretched while half her body still rested on top of Owen's. "Yes, we slept good. Aiden did better last night. Usually when one of us gets up with her in the middle of the night we don't get back into a good deep sleep like that." Owen kissed Claire and said, "that's what great sex will do to you." Claire rolled her eyes and smiled at him, knowing he was actually right. It was 6:20am and they still had 10 minutes before they had to get up. Claire laid in Owen's arms and outlined the scars on his chest with her finger. He glanced down watching her hand move around in different patterns as she made her way down to his abdomen. She had beautiful hands. They were always very soft, due to her overabundance of vanilla scented lotion of course. Her hands were as pale as the rest of her body with a few freckles on top and around her knuckles. She had slender fingers, with short nails that she always kept neatly trimmed and sometimes polished with clear nail polish. Just like the rest of Claire, her hands were always well manicured, neat, clean and ready for whatever job was bestowed upon them. He tried to imagine what her left hand would look like in two days with a ring on a certain finger. The ring he had picked out was a simple, round diamond sitting on top of a thin diamond band. It was not enormous but it wasn't too terribly small at the same time. In fact, she told him when the discussion of marriage came up when she was pregnant that if he ever bought her a ring, she didn't want some gigantic rock sitting on her hand, that it would just get in her way. She said something simple, elegant and small would suffice. Claire didn't wear a lot of frilly jewelry. She had three gold necklaces that she wore regularly, swapping them out almost each day. There was the simple gold bar necklace that her sister bought her for her birthday and sent to her on the island about ten years prior. She wore it almost every day when she worked for Jurassic World, including the day of the incident and managed to find a jeweler afterwards who was able to clean it up and salvage it from the sweat, dirt and dinosaur feces that covered it from the events of that fateful day. Then there was the gold scoop shaped bar necklace that she bought herself sometime during her breakup with Owen. He questioned her one day as to where it came from once they got back together. "Jealous much?" She could tell it bothered him, as he assumed she had been dating someone else while they were broken up because who could resist her, she was beautiful. He painfully assumed that the guy she must have been dating bought it for her. The truth was, although she had gone on one or two dates while she and Owen were split, nothing came of them. She was too stubborn to admit it to herself or to him, but she was still madly in love with him, as he was with her. She explained to him that she purchased the necklace for herself on a whim one Saturday afternoon as she passed a jewelry counter at a department store where she was purchasing some new heels. "Of course you were in there buying new heels. As if you don't have enough already. If you hadn't left me, I could have bought the necklace for you." She rolled her eyes and said, well, if you would've let me drive the damn van, maybe I wouldn't have left you." They both decided they weren't going to go down that path again. He believed her when she said she bought herself the necklace, secretly glad that no other guy had gotten a chance with her. His love for her did make him jealous, just as she had suspected, and she thought it was actually pretty cute, the way he worried that she had been dating an insurance actuary or a dermatologist. Finally, there was the gold bar necklace Owen recently purchased for her, very similar to the plain one her sister bought her. This one, however, had two very special names engraved on it, Maisie and Aiden. She had been wearing it more frequently lately than the other two necklaces which made him and Maisie both proud. She also wore one gold ring on her right index finger and a simple gold bracelet that was a matching set to the necklace from her sister. Her one pair of simple, square gold stud earrings that she wore every day rounded out the extent of her jewelry. Occasionally she wore a small watch, but everything about Claire's jewelry was simple and classy. He hoped he had listened close enough to her request and that she would like the ring he picked out. He hoped, if nothing else, that she would just at least pretend to like it as long as she said yes when he presented it to her on Saturday.

They both laid there relaxing in their bed until 6:30am while Claire continued to trace his scars with her finger. "I'm sorry about all of these," she said softly while staring at his chest. "Why are you sorry?" Although they liked to play rough during sex sometimes, her nails were never long enough to scratch him deep enough to leave permanent scars. She felt indirectly responsible for them though. "I'm sorry because it's my fault you have them. The Indominus, The Indoraptor, the island, all of it is my fault." Owen hated it when she sent herself on a guilt trip. He felt so bad for her that she still carried this guilt around with her even after all this time. It was part of the reason she started the DPG in the first place, to try to right the wrongs of what took place at the park. Truthfully, a few of the scars on his body were from both of the incidents, but most of them were from the raptors, mostly when they were very young and still little enough to come in direct contact with Owen. "Babe, it's not your fault. Blue is responsible for most of these anyway, you know that." Claire sighed. "Yeah, and because of me, we don't even know where she is anymore either." Owen tried to make her feel better by telling her that because of her, Blue was actually better off because they were able to get her off the island before the volcano took her life. "And for all we know, she's hiding out and staying as safe as she can. She's highly intelligent. She knows how to take care of herself."

He kissed Claire on the top of her head before she got up and went to wake Maisie and Aiden. Owen thought out his day. He needed to find some time to discuss his plan of action with Zia. He knew once Claire got to work, Zia would not be able to talk so he decided to text her. He asked her if she could get away for lunch and if she could meet him somewhere to discuss the details of what he was trying to accomplish. She texted him back and said she usually stayed in for lunch but she would come up with a story to tell Claire about where she was going for lunch so Claire wouldn't get suspicious about anything.

By the time Owen made his way to the kitchen, Claire was already bouncing around making Maisie's lunch with Aiden on her hip. "Claire, you know, she has a portable swing and a blanket with toys you can put down for her and a baby seat to help support her back. You can put her down occasionally you know." Claire glared at him. "Owen, before we know it, she will be too big to hold and then shortly after that point, she won't even want Mommy and Daddy to hold her anymore anyway. Leave me alone. I can hold my 'Peanut' all I want." He shrugged his shoulders and walked over to help her in the kitchen. "Aiden, say 'Daa-Daa." He came up behind Claire and started trying to get Aiden to talk while she was hanging on to Claire's hip. Claire rolled her eyes and handed her baby over to the man who knew how to get under her skin, even when he was just being playful about it. "Here, 'Daa-Daa', she's got a present for you in her diaper." He got his innocent torture delivered right back to him. "Funny, thanks." He took his daughter and exited the kitchen running into Maisie on the way out. "Hey Sweetie, you sleep good?" Claire asked Maisie if she wanted fruit or yogurt to go with her sandwich for lunch. "Chips!" Maisie loved fruit and yogurt, but sometimes she wanted more fun things to eat for her school lunch. "Okay, chips today, but fruit again tomorrow." Claire was still grasping the concept of kids wanting to eat "kid" food. Even as a young child Claire felt like an adult growing up. It didn't register in her mind sometimes that Maisie was just a normal kid who just wanted to snack on candy and cookies occasionally. She wanted her children to eat healthy with a balanced diet, but she had to remind herself that sometimes it was okay to throw a little junk food in the mix too for fun. Maisie nodded her head at Claire and poured herself a bowl of cereal for breakfast before getting ready for school.

Zia made up some excuse to get out of the office for lunch that afternoon and met Owen around the corner at a deli to discuss his plan to propose to Claire. "Dude, you're gonna propose to Claire and you want me to capture it all on camera? Yeah, no pressure here or anything." Owen, however, was confident that Zia could do it. "Zia, just stand there and keep snapping the photos. Don't stop. Just keep pressing down on the shutter. Here." He slid an SD card across the table with a large amount of storage space on it. "There should be enough space on this card to capture five proposals." Zia looked at Owen and raised an eyebrow. "You do only plan on doing this once, though, right?" Owen nodded back at her and said, "Depends." "On what?" Zia looked confused. "On if she says yes the first time around." Zia leaned back in the booth. "Owen, she's going to say yes. She loves you. And don't tell her I told you this, but she used to talk about you from time to time while you guys were broken up. She told me about how you saved her life and her nephews' lives and about how you showed her what life outside of an office was like after you guys came back to the states after the park shut down for good. Of course sometimes she just cursed the ground you walked on too. But she confided in me from time to time. She really missed you for a long time. And for the record, as far as I know, she didn't really date anyone for that year that you guys were broken up. Hell, she spent most of her nights in the office anyway, even after the rest of us had left. I even walked in some mornings and found her asleep at her desk because she must have fallen asleep there the night before and never went home. I wish everyone had her work ethic. But when it comes to you, she couldn't seem to shake you then and she can't shake you now, not that I think she's trying to anymore. I think you're it for her Owen. She's going to say yes. Don't worry." Owen was taking all this in. He sat there quietly for a few minutes staring out the window of the deli. Finally he pulled the ring out of his pocket and showed it to Zia. "Oh my God, Owen. It's gorgeous. I think she's going to fall in love with you all over again, dude." Owen chuckled a little and placed the ring back in his pocket. "All I want to do is make her happy Zia. She's gone through so much heartache and shit, losing the park, her career, getting physically scarred for life by that insane hybrid monster Mills and Wu whipped up in the lab, finding out she couldn't have children of her own...I just want to give her a little bit of happiness." Zia had her head down listening to Owen the whole time, but looked him in the eye with her response. "Well, the part about her not being able to have children of her own turned out not be true due to some kind of miracle or something. And you and I both know that baby brings her so much happiness every day. It's funny, I remember her telling me some days how she didn't want children of her own, and then we would come back to the office after spending a morning here and there in a classroom filled with kids teaching them about dinosaurs and she would gush over how cute they were and how maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she ever ended up with one of her own. And now she has two and doesn't stop gushing over either one of them. She's somewhat of a changed person, Owen. I didn't know her when she worked at the park obviously. You did. And Franklin did. He worked there too and caught a glimpse of her personality from time to time and he has personally told me how much she has changed her view on relationships and children since her days on the island. He says if Claire Dearing can change, anyone can change. So if she didn't believe in marriage and kids before, don't hold tight to the fact that she still feels that way, because although she may try to play it cool in front of people, she's head over heels in love with those two children and with you. Besides, you built her a frickin' cabin to win her back for God sakes! She'd be a fool to say no to you!" Owen gave Zia a quick smirk. He then got down to business and told her what he was planning. "Okay so I want you to snap a few pictures of all of us standing out by the lake with the cabin in the background. Then ask Maisie to hold Aiden for a minute and say you wanna snap a few pictures of me and Claire together and then you'll get some of the kids together. Snap one or two of us doing whatever, you can come up with the poses. That's not my forte'. Then after a few quick shots I want you to pretend you heard something in the woods off in the distance. Say something to get her attention away from me so she can turn around. When she turns back to me I'm going to be on one knee holding the ring out. I'm going to hopefully find the right words between now and Saturday and hope like Hell her reaction is a happy one." Zia took mental notes and then asked him if there were any ideas for what he wanted after the proposal. "Maisie wants to make a sign to hold up that says 'she said yes' on it. Maybe she can sit in the grass Indian style with Aiden propped up in her lap and they can sit in the foreground holding the sign up while Claire and I are in the background kissing and she can have her arm extended out showing her ring or something like that." Zia was impressed with the way Owen had thought all of this out. "I thought you said you weren't good at this stuff, Owen." He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Don't you dare tell Claire but I was looking online this morning after she went to work. I may have stolen a few ideas from Pinterest." Zia laughed, surprised that Owen even knew what Pinterest was. She liked all of his ideas and made a plan to incorporate everything he wanted into the photos. "Claire has written this beautiful quote about her and the girls that she wants to frame at some point. I think she wants to hang it somewhere in the apartment or cabin on the wall. So please also be sure to get some really great shots of her with both of the girls." Zia had already planned on getting Claire with the girls, Owen with the girls, Owen and Claire, Maisie and Aiden, each parent with each child, the whole family, every breakdown she could think of. "I got you. This is going to be an amazing photo shoot and an amazing day. I'm glad I can give this to Claire, actually to both of you." Zia thanked Owen for the SD card for her camera and went back to work.

Claire was busy working on some graphic ideas for the website with Franklin and a few interns when Zia got back from lunch. Luckily, she didn't ask Zia any questions since she was too busy trying to fit eight hours of work into a six hour work day. She took two hours off early to pick Maisie up from school to take her shopping. She told Zia to hold down the fort for the rest of the afternoon. "You're in charge for the rest of the day. You let me know if anyone goofs off after I leave. Oh, and don't tell anyone why I'm leaving early today. I told them I had a meeting with another politician friend of mine. I don't want anyone to think it's okay to skip out on work a few hours early to go shopping." Zia was amazed at how badly Claire always wanted to set a good example for her employees and interns. Knowing she could get away with this with her boss, Zia rolled her eyes and said, "Claire you are the boss here, remember? You don't owe anyone an explanation on where you're going. And besides, you never leave work to do anything leisurely. I think one time is okay. You can give yourself a vacation day every once in a while!" Claire agreed, but still told Zia to keep her outing for photo shoot clothes under wraps for the rest of the day.

School wasn't over for another hour but Claire had agreed to check Maisie out early just that one time. She walked into the school and made her way to the front office. The secretary greeted her as she walked in. "Hi, may I help you?" Claire gave the woman Maisie's name and told her she was there to check her out. The woman asked to see Claire's ID and made sure she was on the list of people who were allowed to check Maisie out of school. "Oh, you're Maisie's mom, okay!" Claire wondered why the office staff knew her daughter so well. Was she spending time in the office without Claire knowing? Was she getting into trouble? What was this all about? "She's such a sweet little girl. We do the pledge of allegiance every morning over the intercom and we bring two students up to the office every morning to say it over the loud speaker. She's been up here to do it a few times and she's always so polite and well mannered. I'm afraid I can't say that for some of the other kids here!" She winked at Claire. As Claire was signing her out, the secretary pulled the bookkeeper out from behind her cubicle and said, "Beth, this is Maisie's mom, Claire. Doesn't she look just like her mom?" Suddenly Claire looked up with big eyes. When she and Owen registered Maisie for school they supplied them with a birth certificate, thanks to Iris's forged documents that she had on the child since the day she was born in the lab. Luckily she had made it out of the rampaged house alive and they were able to track her down and meet up with her. Eventually the authorities tracked them all down and she supplied the courts with all the documents to prove Maisie was born in the US and that she was "Lockwood's granddaughter." Lockwood mentioned Claire to Iris many times over the years and after finally meeting her once she could see why Lockwood was so fond of her. She was smart, level headed, determined and wealthy enough to care for a child if need be. Iris knew Lockwood would approve of Maisie going to live with Claire and Owen should a situation arise. Iris wanted to care for the child herself but knew Maisie would be better off in a home with younger parents or guardians who could provide for her more substantially than Iris ever could. She made a point to visit Maisie occasionally in order to stay in touch. When Claire and Owen were both granted legal guardianship over Maisie, all of her personal documentation was handed over to them. They had no reason to hide the fact that Maisie wasn't biologically theirs. The only fact about her identity that they had to hide was the fact that she was a human clone. So it was in her school files that she was adopted, but having a couple hundred student files to maintain, Claire assumed the office staff didn't know or pay attention to the fact that it was in Maisie's paperwork that she was adopted. She was a little overwhelmed at the fact that the secretary and bookkeeper stood there talking about how much Maisie looked like her. Claire wanted to tell them the truth so badly but she was selfishly naughty and let them continue to believe Maisie was her biological child. Part of this was because Claire somewhat wished it was true herself. No one had ever told her that Maisie looked like her. She politely said, "thank you" and made a point to tell them that Maisie was taught manners at home and that she was glad to see her daughter was polite to the adults and other children at school. "If she's ever not sweet or polite, feel free to call me, because we don't play that game in our house." Claire had been taught to respect her elders and her fellow peers from the time she was a small child. She was taught to say please and thank you and no thank you. She believed in teaching her children the same thing. Claire also wondered if they never picked up on Maisie's British accent when she came into the office. She was slowly losing her accent, being around two homegrown Americans all the time and a school full of kids with American accents so she assumed they didn't notice much. Claire and Owen never forced Maisie to drop her accent. They did not want to take any part of her identity away from her. Claire continued to let them believe what they wanted, while she waited for Maisie to be brought to the office for early check out. Maisie walked in a few minutes later with her backpack and gave Claire a hug. The office staff were again pleasantly surprised. "We never see the kids hugging their parents. They must think they're too cool at this age already for that sort of thing. She's such a sweetheart." Claire shook her head to agree with them. "Yes, I'm very blessed and lucky."

Claire and Maisie got in the car and headed to the mall. When they got there they stopped in Journeys first, as Claire figured if she followed through on her promise to buy Maisie a new pair of Chucks the child would be more open to also shopping for a pair of boots to wear for the photo shoot as well. Maisie picked out a pair of white high top Converse tennis shoes and they made their way to the Gap next. Claire found a pair of dark skinny jeans for Maisie, along with a cream colored Henley in her size and a plaid button down shirt. She also bought her a gray t-shirt to wear under the plaid shirt. They searched a few stores for some brown boots for Maisie until they found some to wear over her skinny jeans.

They got home and Maisie reluctantly performed a fashion show for Claire, Owen and Aiden in the living room. "You look really cute, kiddo. I like the boots!" Owen was trying to boost her enthusiasm, but Maisie just rolled her eyes and ran back to her room to change into her Chucks so she could show them off. "Can I wear these to school tomorrow Claire?" Claire was hesitant to say yes, despite knowing she would probably manage to get them dirty in one day before the photo shoot on Saturday, but she humored the child anyway. Maisie ran back to her room to change into her pajamas while Claire helped Aiden perform her own fashion show for Daddy. She had managed to find a plaid shirt at the Baby Gap to match Maisie's and found some baby jeggings and tiny brown boots at Carter's. Her favorite was a flowing little cream top that looked really cute with the jeggings and boots. "I want her to take a few pictures barefooted too. I don't think it will be too terribly cold and we'll put her socks and shoes back on right away." Owen watched her pull Aiden's clothes out of the shopping bags on the coffee table and dress their baby on the couch to show off her new outfits. He couldn't help but watch how Claire so intently dressed and undressed their infant in the gentlest way. Most babies didn't like to be changed, especially in back to back outfits, but Aiden just let Claire do whatever she wanted to her. Her cough was almost completely gone and she was back to her happy, cheerful self. After the fashion show, Claire went to the kitchen to give Aiden a bath in her baby tub in the sink. Owen walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He kissed her on her cheek from behind and told her how much he loved her and Aiden and Maisie. "Do you know how much I love you, Claire?" She was gently caressing their baby with a soft wash cloth and lavender scented baby soap. "Yes. You've shown me. And I can't wait to go to our home that you built for us this weekend and spend it with you and our Mais and Peanut." Owen couldn't wait either. He couldn't wait to finally show her how much he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. If it wasn't for their jobs, especially Claire's, and Maisie's school, he would have moved them permanently to the cabin, but he knew Claire would go stir crazy out there permanently anyway, so most of their weekends were reserved for the cabin. He helped her finish giving Aiden a bath all the while praying that the upcoming weekend at their cabin would be a very unforgettable one.

Owen woke up around 2:00am to find Claire's side of the bed empty. He got up and entered Aiden's room to find his baby sound asleep in her crib. He peeked into Maisie's room assuming she had a nightmare that Claire heard and he didn't. Maisie was asleep as well. Finally he stumbled into the kitchen to find Claire sitting at the kitchen island working on her laptop. "Babe, what are you doing? It's two in the morning." Claire barely looked up from her computer. "I couldn't sleep so I got up to work on one of the proposals I've been working on to send to Congress about funding the sanctuary." Owen scratched his head and leaned against the island. His fatigued body kept him there for a few minutes and then he moved over to Claire's side to try to take her back to bed with him. When he came up behind her to rub her shoulders she leaned back in her chair and reached one of her hands up to hold his. He kissed her hand. "Do you ever stop working?" She closed her eyes and said, "Nope!" "Well we should take Maisie somewhere for Spring Break. You need a vacation and she's hasn't been anywhere outside of California with the exception of going to your parents' house once since we adopted her." Claire hummed into his chest. "I'll think about it. I have so much work to do at the office. But maybe I could take a day off and we could go to the beach or something." Owen didn't want to push her buttons, but he wanted her to slow down sometimes and learn to stop feeling guilty for not working 24/7 around the clock to try to save the dinosaurs. It took a while to manage, but she had finally learned to shut work off on the weekends. She rarely even worked in the evenings during the week, dedicating her time to Aiden, Maisie and Owen as much as she could. Sitting up working in the middle of the night wasn't a regular occurrence like it had been when she worked at the park and before she and Owen got back together. She put everything she had into founding and maintaining the DPG, and she worked hard every day to make sure her blood, sweat, tears and years of money saved didn't go to waste on it. "Let's go to Disneyland or something. Maisie will completely lose her mind!" Claire laughed a little. "You want us to take what will then be a six month old to Disneyland too? Pay for tickets for a baby who won't even understand what's going on around her?" Owen rolled his eyes. Claire was always thinking two steps ahead of him. It was no wonder they were able to afford their nice apartment in the city. Claire saved almost every penny she had when she worked at the park. She never had time to go anywhere anyway. That, combined with her settlement check paid out by the Masrani Corporation provided her more than enough to live on, as did his settlement check. He didn't care where they went. He just wanted to get away with the three loves of his life. "We'll figure something out. In the meantime, will you just come back to bed?" Claire finally got up and closed her laptop. He held her hand down the hallway back to their bedroom and within ten minutes they were asleep in each other's arms.


	5. CHAPTER 5

FRIDAY

Claire only worked until 3:00 on Fridays. She and Owen would usually pick the kids up from school and daycare and head straight to the cabin which was about two hours away from the city. She had everything packed for their weekend photo shoot at the cabin. Their outfits were already ironed and hanging on hangers in the back of her car and everyone's boots were piled in the floorboard of her backseat. Claire walked in to work Friday morning ready to finish her proposal she had been working on and then have her weekly meeting with her team. Every Friday they stood around the big table in the middle of the large office and talked about any progress they had made in funding, political backing, school support, etc. The government was not ready to try to capture and relocate the dinosaurs just yet, something Claire was constantly up in arms about. She wanted them placed safely on an island, preferably one without another volcano on it, so that they could live out the rest of their lives in peace. She wanted what Lockwood had promised her was supposed to originally happen. The meeting was short that day, with everyone pitching in ideas for how to continue their strides in dinosaur legislation and getting people to say yes to "saving the dinos". Claire had arranged for Zia to drive up to the cabin with them Friday night and stay the night so she could get everything prepared early Saturday morning outside while they were inside getting ready.

A little while after lunch Zia walked over to Claire's desk to hand her a printout of an email from one of the city chambers Claire was a member of for small business owners. Claire was on the phone with one of the local elementary schools setting up an upcoming career day event. Zia noticed a piece of paper on Claire's desk with Claire's handwriting on it. She didn't want to be nosey, but noticed it said something about Maisie and Aiden on it. Claire was just finishing her phone call as Zia handed her the printout. She made a point to glance down at the paper on Claire's desk before turning to go back to her own desk. "Hey while you're over here at my desk being nosey, will you read this and tell me what you think?" Zia wondered if this draft about Maisie and Aiden was what Owen was referring to when he told her Claire had written a quote about the girls she wanted to hang up with one of the pictures Zia was to take of them. "I wasn't being nosey, boss." Claire cocked her head to the side and handed her the paper. "Yes you were and you know it. Just read it though and tell me what you think. Be honest with me." Zia read the words Claire had written on the piece of paper. It read: "One daughter shares my blood and one does not. It doesn't change how I love them. They're BOTH my girls. I may not have given my oldest the gift of life, but life gave me the gift of her. One may never have my smile or eyes, but they'll both always have my heart." Claire looked up at Zia waiting for a reaction. Zia was not much of a crier. However, Claire could see the water works bubbling up in Zia's eyes. "Claire, that is the most beautiful thing I have ever read. Those two little girls have really changed you, haven't they?" "More than you know, Zia. More than you know. If you would have told me five, six years ago this would be my life now, I would have told you you were crazy. Maisie and Aiden taught me never to say never because you never know when something you thought you didn't want for so long can come into your life and turn out to be a blessing." Claire asked Zia if the words were too mushy. "No Claire, they're perfect. The words sum it all up beautifully. I only hope I can capture some pictures of you and the girls tomorrow that are as beautiful as these words you've written." Claire almost teared up a little bit herself. "You know, Zia, I was watching Maisie the other day while she was just reading a book on the couch. She was so engrossed in what she was reading. It was about dinosaurs of course. She reminds me so much of myself as a kid an as an adult. I was holding Aiden at the same time watching her laugh at Owen's goofy faces he was making at her and those words just came to me. Maisie is just as much mine as Aiden is. I look at her every day and am reminded how for some reason she was brought into my life. I may never know why. And it doesn't matter. The important thing is she's mine now. I kinda feel like she was meant to be mine all along. We just had to find each other." Zia started waving her hands at Claire. "Okay, seriously you're starting to sound like you're in a Hallmark movie. Stop with all this sweet, mushy love stuff! Claire Dearing isn't mushy!" Claire laughed and said, "only around my children and I guess sometimes around that cute baby daddy of mine." Zia's tears turned into tears of laughter. "Oh my God, just wait until I tell Owen what you called him!" Claire threw her hands up in the air. "Oh he knows. I've called him that to his face a few times!" Zia couldn't wait for her boss to find out her "baby daddy" was about to be more than just that and her boyfriend after the weekend was over. She got back to work until quitting time at 3:00.

Claire refused to conform to the idea of buying a "soccer mom" mini van once Aiden came along. She had nothing against parents who had one, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She still owned her tiny Ford Fiesta, which allowed room for Aiden's car seat and another space for Maisie to sit in the back seat. Owen hated it. It was too small for him and he was always cramped when they drove it to the cabin. His truck however was not an extended cab in the back seat, and was not capable of fitting a car seat back there so Claire won the battle of whose vehicle they would drive to get them to the cabin every weekend. Owen would have driven his RV van back and forth, but there was nowhere in the city around their apartment building to park it on the street. Since there was also no real room for a fifth person in either one of their vehicles, Zia drove her own car and followed them to the cabin.

That evening, Owen, Zia and Maisie watched some of the Winter Olympics on television that Owen had mounted on the main wall in the living room while Claire laid on the huge area rug in front of them playing with Aiden. "Come on, come on, come on, go faster!" Owen and Zia were both sports lovers and managed to get Maisie in on the action with them. Before Claire knew it, there were three people screaming at the television in the living room. She was using Aiden as a weight, lifting her up and down above her head, getting a workout and having fun with her baby at the same time. Aiden was in a playful mood and was enjoying the mommy and daughter play time. Claire had planned the photo shoot around Aiden's nap time so she wouldn't be sleepy and fussy the next day. She knew what time to put Aiden to bed in order for her to sleep until a certain time and around what time she would be ready for a nap on Saturday. Around 10:00pm she finally had to tell the three sports spectators to quiet down a little bit because she was going to nurse the baby and put her to bed. Claire passed Aiden around to everyone to say her goodnights. Zia was first. "Goodnight CJ! Sleep good baby girl!" Owen looked at Zia, confused as ever. "Who is CJ?" Zia and Claire both knew of Zia's nickname for Aiden and chuckled a little bit. "CJ stands for Claire Jr.," Zia retorted. Owen rolled his eyes. "Yeah she's Claire Jr. alright. Just not nearly as stubborn as her mother yet." Claire narrowed her eyes at Owen, knowing he was right, but not appreciating his remark regardless. Zia passed Aiden to Maisie who kissed her baby sister on the cheek and said she loved her. Zia had been gracious enough to babysit the girls for Claire and Owen a few times before and continuously gushed over how sweet Maisie was to her little sister, despite the age gap between them. "You're such a good big sister," she said to Maisie. "Yes, she is," Claire said proudly in agreement. Next it was Owen's turn to say goodnight to his infant. "Goodnight, Mama's girl. I would say Daddy's girl, but we all know who you love more. I still love you and your big green eyes more than ever though!" He kissed his almost five month old as hard as he could without crushing her cheek before handing her off to Claire again. "You guys keep it down, please. I want her to get a good night's sleep so she will be happy for the photos tomorrow." The three of them put their hands up to their temples to salute Claire as she rolled her eyes at them and exited the living room.

"Maisie, did you make the sign for tomorrow?" Zia immediately questioned the child on her preparedness the minute Claire left the living room. "Shhhh! Zia, have you ever heard of whispering?" Owen snapped. Zia apologized and waited for Maisie's response. "Yes I made the sign. It's in my backpack." Maisie always brought her backpack on the weekends so she could work on any homework she had in the car on the two hour drive to the cabin and back. "I'll sneak it to you in the morning so you can hide it until it's time for me to hold it up!" Maisie and Zia gave each other a fist pump and went back to watching the Olympics until Claire came back into the living room. "Zia, you're more than welcome to sleep here in the cabin." Zia refused, not wanting to impose on her boss's space. "Owen gave me the keys to the van outside. He said I can have free reign of everything in there." Claire took that opportunity to mess around with Owen. "Well, be sure not to have too much fun with the keys. He doesn't like women driving his precious van, you know." Claire was over him not letting her drive the van a few years prior. She finally just let it go and moved past it since he finally realized she was more than capable of driving large vehicles, especially in crisis situations. He had gotten over his stubborn chivalry and let her drive the van since coming back from the second incident anyway. She still liked to rub it in sometimes though. Owen gave Claire a death stare as she walked over and high fived Maisie. "Mais, I thought you were on my side!" Owen was feeling ganged up on. Zia stood up from the couch and pat him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Owen. I won't drive it anywhere. Besides, I'm not good with large vehicles the way my boss is anyway!" Claire rolled her eyes and smiled, knowing Zia was right. Maisie asked to spend the night with Zia in the van. "Sweetie, I'm sure Zia wants her personal space. You can sleep in your own room." The young girl pouted a little as Claire shot her request down. She enjoyed hanging out with Zia when she would come to Claire's office after school occasionally and when Zia would babysit her and Aiden a few times a month. Zia enjoyed the ten year old's company just as much in return. "Maisie, come on, girlie, you can spend the night with me in the van, it's perfectly fine!" Claire finally agreed to let Maisie go with Zia outside to the van under the condition that she give Zia her space and went to sleep as soon as they got in there. "I'll make sure she's tucked in within the next fifteen minutes, boss." Claire remarked, "I'm not your boss here, Zia. Stop calling me that." Maisie grabbed her backpack and followed Zia to the front door to go outside to the van. Claire wondered why Maisie needed her backpack with her just to go to sleep. "Sweetie, what do you need your backpack for?" Maisie thought it was a good idea to go ahead and give Zia the sign out of her backpack that night since they were spending it together in the van. She had to come up with a smart response quickly. She stood on her tip toes and motioned for Claire to lean down to her level, then whispered in Claire's ear, "I drew a picture of Blue for Owen and I want to show it to Zia, but I don't want him to see it yet because I'm not finished with it." Claire smiled at her child and nodded, trying to be discrete in front of Owen. "Alright you two, lights out within fifteen minutes. I'll be looking out the front window here, to make sure the van out front is dark by then." Zia turned her back to Claire and rolled her eyes, walking out with Maisie holding her hand.

"Well, since we have the cabin to ourselves, with the exception of a baby down the hall, what would you like to do tonight, Ms. Dearing?" Owen wanted to take advantage of their unexpected time alone. "I want to sleep, Owen. I don't want us to be tired with puffy eyes tomorrow." Disappointed with her answer, he grumbled as she grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hallway to their bedroom. He exited the bathroom that connected to their master bedroom a few minutes later, dressed in a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. Claire was sitting halfway up in bed with her head resting against the headboard, already asleep. She had taken her hair down from the ponytail she had it pinned up in all day. She rarely let her hair completely down, and he couldn't help but admire how gorgeous she was just lying there sleeping, her wavy locks resting over her shoulders, her faithful bangs nearly covering her eyes. He crawled in bed next to her, his movement waking her slightly. "Come here, babe." He laid down on his side and she slid down next to him and rolled over on her stomach. He turned out the lamp on the night stand on his side of the bed and rolled back over to face her. She was already drifting back off to sleep. He began to rub her back, first on top of her tank top, then letting his hand wander under her shirt. "Hmmm, you're a good back rubber," she moaned in her sleep. "Don't patronize me," he playfully remarked back. He kept massaging her back and shoulders while watching her breathing get more relaxed as she entered into a deep slumber. He thought about how hard she worked all the time and how exhausted she must have been constantly. She hardly ever complained and always kept going, both at work and at home. He loved being able to help her relax, even with something as simple as a back rub. It was almost midnight before Owen's mind stopped racing and he started to fall asleep next to Claire. He had spent the past hour watching her sleep in the moonlit room they shared while thinking about everything he had planned for the next day. He had gone over in his proposal speech in his head a million times, but he was sure his nerves would get the best of him and cause him to screw it all up. As he removed his hand from Claire's back she stirred and nuzzled up in his arm, letting her head rest right underneath his chin. He pressed his cheek gently into her head, feeling the softness of her beautiful wavy red hair, and smelled the sweet smell of vanilla scented lotion on her neck. Holding her was his favorite thing in the world. He had been in the Navy, worked at the most popular theme park in the world, got to work with and train real life dinosaurs, but nothing came remotely close to the thrill he got just holding the red headed pistol that changed his life in his arms. It was what he hoped would be his last night holding his "girlfriend" in bed. Hopefully the following night he would be holding his "fiancé" in his arms.


	6. CHAPTER 6

SATURDAY

Owen woke up around 4:30am when he heard Aiden crying. It was her usual feeding time. He laid in bed, eyes wide open staring at the ceiling trying to rehearse his proposal speech in his head again while Claire went to breastfeed Aiden in her nursery. This was it. This was the day, the day he would pop the question that would hopefully determine the rest of his life. He tried to relax and go back to sleep for a few more hours, but he found it impossible. He had always viewed his relationship with Claire as complete, rings on their hands or not. Once they came home from the second incident with a clone child in their possession, it just solidified the deal even more for him. They had a lot to work to do, trying to repair the parts they damaged when they left each other a year prior, but he had a family in Claire. She was the only person he could see spending the rest of his life with. They were so different, yet so much alike too. They still dealt with things in different ways, and their stubbornness still got in the way of the bigger picture sometimes. But he knew he was just as guilty of all of that as she was. They still drove each other crazy sometimes, but he knew that was to always be a part of their dynamic.

Twenty minutes after Claire left the bedroom she returned. She crawled in bed and curled back up in his arm, resting her head on his chest and her hand on his heart. Although her eyes were adjusted to the dark, she didn't notice he was awake and drifted back off to sleep within five minutes. This was what he wanted for the rest of his life. Every good and bad thing they'd been through together brought them to this point. After he was sure she had completely fallen back to sleep, he gently rubbed the back of her bare shoulder with his thumb again. Just feeling her skin against his made him shutter. He leaned his head down, resting his cheek against her head, smelling the familiar scent of vanilla, mixed with lavender scented baby oil on her neck. He ran over his lines one more time in his head while the love of his life slept in his embrace. If she said yes, he was prepared to die right there in her arms. He spent the next three hours watching her sleep and watching the digital clock on his night stand that illuminated the time on the ceiling. It was the longest three hours of his life.

Claire's phone alarm went off at 8:00am. She rolled over to her side of the bed and reached for her phone on the night stand to turn it off. Owen rolled over to her side and wrapped his arms around her from behind. He was so nervous he just wanted a few more minutes in bed with her. She let him have the few extra minutes he secretly hoped for. At 8:10am, Claire was restless and ready to start her day. She had everything planned out. "Okay, we need to get up. We need to get ready while Aiden is sleeping. I want her to sleep as long as possible so she is in a good mood for the pictures later on." Owen sighed and crawled out of bed behind Claire and followed her to the bathroom. She started the shower and gave him instructions on what she needed his help with. "Will you go outside to the van and get Maisie up? She needs to start getting ready too. I need to do her hair after she takes a bath." Maisie and Claire had decided that Maisie would wear her hair down for the photo shoot. "She knows how to brush her own hair, Claire. What is there to do exactly?" Claire growled, still sleepy, not wanting to answer questions so early in the morning. "I just want to make sure it's brushed thoroughly, Owen. Just please go wake her up. I'm going to go ahead and jump in the shower."

Fifteen minutes later Claire stepped out of the shower and squeezed her hair dry. She wrapped a towel around her body and walked over to the sink to grab her faithful vanilla scented lotion. As she was rubbing the lotion on her arms and legs Maisie popped her head in the bathroom. "Morning, Claire." Claire didn't like the tone in Maisie's voice. "Hey, why so grumpy this morning? It's picture day, sweetie!" Maisie groaned and asked Claire if she could have cookies for breakfast. "First of all, have you had your bath yet? And second of all, no cookies for breakfast. We are going out to eat for lunch this afternoon after we finish taking pictures. So eat something light for breakfast so you don't ruin your appetite for lunch later. There are some muffins on the counter next to the stove. Blueberry, your favorite." Maisie scurried off, without notifying Claire if she had even bathed yet.

An hour later, Claire, Owen and Maisie were all showered. It was close to 10:00am and Claire heard Aiden on the baby monitor on her night stand. She was in the middle of putting her makeup on. "Owen!" She yelled for him, but he never showed up in the bathroom. She let two minutes pass which seemed like ten while she heard Aiden getting fussier and fussier in her crib. She walked out of the bathroom and into Aiden's nursery to pick up her crying baby. "Where is your daddy, huh? He seems to have disappeared. Let's go find him so we can give him a piece of our minds, Peanut." She threw Aiden on her hip and walked around the entire cabin with no sign of Owen or Maisie. Finally Claire walked out to the backyard which faced the huge lake behind the cabin. There was Owen, Maisie and Zia huddled together in the middle of the backyard talking quietly to one another. "Owen!" Claire yelled again. They hadn't heard the back door open and Owen jumped out of his skin when he heard Claire calling after him. The three of them were discussing the proposal details one more time to make sure everything went off without a hitch. "What are you guys doing out here? You need to finish getting ready! Can you come feed Aiden so I can finish putting my makeup on?" Owen ran up the hill back to the cabin immediately and took his infant from Claire's hold. "I'm sorry. We were just talking about going out on the boat tomorrow. Maisie wants to take Zia out on the lake." Claire looked at Owen as if she didn't believe him. Why would they be outside discussing that when they could do it inside while getting ready for the photos? Claire was too smart to fall for his story, but she let it go for the time being so they could all finish getting dressed. Aiden still needed to be fed and dressed and Claire still needed to do Maisie's hair. Luckily, Aiden still didn't have a lot of hair so Claire put a headband with a tiny bow around her head and called it a day. After Owen fed Aiden a bottle of breast milk and Claire dressed her, she put Zia in charge of watching her five month old while she went back into the bathroom to look over her own hair and makeup one last time before getting dressed.

Owen was standing at the sink shaving. Claire noticed his hand was shaking a little bit. "Owen, why are you shaking? You're going to cut yourself! What's wrong?" He tried to play it cool, but she noticed he was sweating too. "Babe, are you getting sick? You're not running a fever or anything are you?" Owen knew he had to pull himself together before his nerves gave everything away. "I'm fine. Still a little hot from the shower, that's all." Claire stood and watched him for a minute or two. "If you keep standing there in that bra looking like that it's going to make me even hotter." She rolled her eyes and finally dropped her gaze on him and walked into their bedroom to get dressed. She put on her cream colored Henley, a pair of dark skinny jeans and a pair of almost knee high boots that somewhat resembled the ones she wore to the island when they went to "save the dinos". She had decided to wear her hair completely down for the pictures. Her famous bangs fell just over her eyebrows, almost into her green eyes. Owen caught a glimpse of her through the doorway that connected the master bedroom and bathroom together. She was standing in front of the dresser mirror running her fingers through her bangs one last time to make sure there were no gaps in them. "You look really nice, Claire." She heard him say it from the bathroom and walked back in there to thank him. She wrapped one arm around his waist and stood up her toes to give him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you. You look nice too, but you can't take these pictures shirtless so hurry up and get dressed." She then left the master suite to see what Zia and her children were up to.

Owen got dressed at a normal pace. Part of him wanted to get dressed as quickly as he could, but he was also so nervous he wanted to buy himself as much time as he could before he had to ask the love of his life the most important question he would ever ask her. He could hear Claire talking about him from the living room all the way down the hall. "I swear Zia, sometimes he gets ready in five minutes and sometimes he takes longer than any woman I've ever known. I washed my hair, styled it, put on makeup, got myself and a baby dressed and did Maisie's hair and he's still not ready. What's his deal today?" Zia shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe he's trying to stall because he's a guy and guys don't like taking pictures." Owen quickly ran into the back of the closet and grabbed the ring out of one of his Navy uniform pockets and shoved it down deep into the pocket of his jeans. He finally emerged from the bedroom dressed in a pair of clean, brown boots, dark wash jeans, and a white Henley. Claire immediately forgave him internally for taking so long to get ready when she saw him walk into the living room. He was rugged, yet sexy, with just a little bit of stubble left on his face after shaving, and that crooked, devilish grin he gave her made her want to drag him right back to their bedroom and rip off every garment of clothing he just put on. He was definitely not what she ever thought would be her type, but she soon realized after meeting him for the first time that there was more energy and sexual tension between them than any of the few other guys she had ever dated. In short, he was the most good looking guy she had ever laid eyes on. "Look at my girls! You all look so beautiful." Claire's heart fluttered as she held Aiden in her lap. These things called love and family were something she never thought she'd have in her life. Her work was her main source of love for so long, and although her work still brought so much joy to her life, she sometimes couldn't believe she had this beautiful family to go along with it. She couldn't wait to memorialize this moment in time in the backyard of the cabin this man built for her and him to share their lives together in. She had no clue the moment they were about to memorialize was a proposal that would determine the course of her relationship going forward with the man she loved. "Let's do this," Zia declared. Claire stood up with Aiden and led everyone outside. Zia was the first to follow, camera in hand and cell phone ready to film the big moment Claire knew nothing about. Maisie followed behind Zia and Owen forced himself out the back door behind Maisie. When Maisie and Owen got to the doorway she turned to him and softly whispered, "You ready? I am!" Owen took a deep breath. "Yeah kiddo, I'm more than ready. Just nerves getting the best of me."

They walked outside to find Zia giving Claire visual instructions on where to stand and what pose she wanted to try first with all four of them standing up. Owen walked over to join them and wrapped his arm around Claire's waist in the back. He looked at his infant in Claire's arm. Aiden was dressed in a pair of baby jeggings with some tiny boots with fringes on them and a cream colored long sleeved flowing shirt that accentuated her pale freckled skin. She matched her mother in every way. Owen leaned in to Claire before Zia started snapping the photos and kissed her on her cheek. "What was that for?" Claire looked up at him wondering what the kiss was for. "Just for this. All of this." He motioned to Maisie and Aiden and Claire smiled down at them too. "Alright Owen, get in closer to Claire, Claire move Aiden to your right arm so she's in between you and Owen and Maisie, you stand on Claire's left side and hold on to her arm." Zia was ready to start the love fest that was about to take place. She snapped a couple of pictures of the first pose and then had them change it up a bit. "Aw, you guys are such a cute little family!" Claire rolled her eyes and smiled back at Zia, knowing it was true, but that Zia was also just trying to hype her up. She knew Claire didn't particularly like having her picture taken, but Claire didn't have any qualms about this photo shoot because it was with her family, and not another stiff professional headshot she occasionally had to take for work.

Zia started off by snapping a few poses of all of them together, and then discretely winked at Owen and Maisie to get ready for the proposal. She managed to get Claire to let Maisie hold Aiden for a minute so she could snap a few pictures of them playing on the ground together. She used that as a segue to get Claire and Owen together for a few shots while the kids were still on the ground next to her playing. "Maisie, don't let her fall over, sweetie!" Claire was worried about Aiden's lack of balance and asked Maisie to sit Indian style and put Aiden in her lap so she could prop up until they got her and her sister back in the pictures. This was it. This was the moment. Zia had Claire stand next to Owen and rest her hand on his chest while he put his arms around her waist. Then she told them to hold hands and stand a few feet apart from each other and look at each other. Claire was caught up in trying to pose with Owen and watching Aiden to make sure she didn't fall over in Maisie's lap that she didn't notice Zia mouth to Owen, "here we go." Owen nodded and got himself ready for his big speech. "Oh my God, Claire! Look!" Zia pointed at the woods facing the right side of the cabin. She threw her phone down to Maisie with the video option already chosen so Maisie could record what was about to happen next while she continued to snap still photos on her camera. They had this all planned out. "Did you see that?" Claire let go of Owen's hand and stepped away from him a few feet to try to see what Zia was talking about. Claire, worried that Zia saw a dinosaur beyond the trees, thought first about her children's safety and asked if they needed to get inside the cabin. "What is it Zia? Do we need to get inside?" Zia didn't know what to say next so she made a quick glance at Owen to make sure he was knelt down behind Claire with the ring in his hand. "We don't need to get back inside, it's okay, but you need to turn back around." Claire, confused as Hell, turned back around to Owen and gasped. Her boyfriend of five years with the exception of their one year of sheer stubbornness that had them living separate lives in between was down on one knee holding out a halo cut diamond ring with a thin, gold, diamond inlay band. He didn't waste any time getting his words out.

"You knew this was coming sooner or later." Claire couldn't manage to close her mouth or pull her hands away from it. "Claire, the last five years with you have been an adventure to say the least. I'm never bored with you by my side." The tears fell from her face and his at the same time. He was stumbling over his words and hated what was happening to him, but he just wanted her to stop him and say 'yes' already. "I love you, Claire, and I love our life together and I want to spend the rest of it making you as happy as I can." She was already shaking her head yes and stepping closer to him. Zia's finger never left the shutter button on the camera and Maisie smiled and looked on, recording the whole proposal on Zia's phone with Aiden sitting quietly in her lap thanks to the teething ring Maisie gave her to chew on. "Claire, will you marry me?" Claire continued to shake her head up and down, her tears completely uncontrollable, and the words he longed to hear finally fell out of her mouth. "Yes, yes, yes! Come here!" She pulled him off the ground by his arm and slammed into him. To her, it felt like she had never kissed him this hard in her life. It reminded her of the first time she pulled him off the ground, only he kissed her that time, and she knew there was more to come for them. To him, it was a symbol of everything they'd been through from that first dreaded date in board shorts to the two incidents involving hybrid monsters to the two beautiful children watching from a few feet away. To him, it meant she was willing to go through any adventure still waiting for them with him by her side. She wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, still attached to his lips while he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her slightly off the ground. After what seemed like an eternity that neither of them wanted to end, Owen lowered her back down to the ground and held her left hand out to slide the ring on. "I had more I wanted to say, Claire, but..." Claire stopped him from going any further. "Owen, you don't need to say anything else. I love you." She glanced down at the ring he placed on her finger and grabbed the back of his neck again and pulled him in for another kiss. Zia had since moved in closer and was snapping close up shots of them embracing, making sure to focus on Claire's left hand on Owen's face to show off her ring. They were both completely lost in each other and forgot they were being photographed. These were the best kinds of pictures, in the moment, unposed. Owen managed to pull off the surprise proposal, despite losing a few of his words.

After a few minutes of shock and pure bliss, Owen walked over and picked Aiden up out of Maisie's lap. "Did you get it all on video, Kiddo?" Maisie proudly nodded her head and smiled. She got up and followed him back over to Claire. Maisie practically jumped in Claire's arms and wrapped her legs around Claire's waist. She was still tiny and lightweight for almost eleven years old and Claire effortlessly caught her and held her up, trying to control the tears that were still welling up in her eyes. Owen held his baby in the air and spun her around, proudly saying, "She said yes, Peanut! Mommy said yes!" Maisie then remembered her sign. "Oh speaking of that, I gotta go get my sign!" She jumped out of Claire's embrace and ran to grab the sign she made that said "SHE SAID YES" on it. Owen laughed as he saw where Maisie retrieved the sign from. "Mais, you hid it inside the grill?" Maisie knew Claire would never lift the lid of the grill for anything, so she hid it there earlier that day while Claire was still getting ready inside. Claire at that moment realized Maisie and Zia were in on the whole thing. "Wait, so you guys knew about this? You prepared a sign? What?" Maisie giggled, Zia threw her hands in the air and Owen shrugged his shoulders. Claire couldn't believe between the three of them, they kept a secret from her without slipping. She took her infant from Owen and asked her, "And how much of this did you know in advance too, Peanut?" Maisie brought the sign over and showed it to everyone. Owen and Claire both shared their satisfaction of the sign she had drawn on a piece of poster board she got from school. "It looks great, Kiddo. Glad it has the right information on it!" Owen and Maisie shared a wink. Claire caught on to their body language and asked, "Did you doubt I would say yes, Owen?" He shrugged a little bit and replied, "I know we talked about it when you were pregnant with Aiden and I promised you I would wait until after she was born if we ever decided to do this. But I also know how untraditional you are too, so I was flying on a wing and a prayer." Claire leaned in and kissed him and then asked Zia to hold Aiden. "Zia, can Owen and I have a minute before we get back to taking pictures?" Zia took Aiden from Claire immediately. "Of course! Come on Maisie, let's take Aiden for a walk down by the lake for a few minutes." Maisie followed Zia down the hill looking a little worried that Claire was going to change her mind.

Owen led Claire to the porch swing on the back porch of the cabin. They sat down together and she scooted in right up next to him. She placed both of her hands on his leg and looked down at her ring and smiled. "Owen, I-" He stopped her before she could keep going. "Claire, I know you said yes because you didn't want to ruin the moment, but please tell me if this is what you really want or not. Be honest with me." Claire gazed into his eyes, and he could see the tears welling up in hers again. He placed his hand over hers and she intertwined her fingers in his. "Owen, I said yes because I love you and it was the most natural response I had in that moment. You need to know one thing. I told myself a long time ago that if this day were to ever come that I had my answer. I don't want to spend my life with anyone else. I feel like we get each other better than anyone else gets either of us. We still have a lot to work on together, mainly because there are still times when we don't get each other too, but I believe there was a reason we found each other in the first place. I'm thankful every day that you're in my life, even on the days when I want to choke you!" He chuckled a little bit and squeezed her hand tighter. "We're like kindred spirits, Owen. I love you, okay? 'Yes' is my final answer." He reached up and wiped a tear falling down her cheek with his thumb and then kissed her again. "You really had me worried there for a minute, babe." "Maisie made a sign and then hid it in the grill over there. I would have broken two hearts had I said no!" They both laughed as they stood up. Claire needed one more moment with Owen before returning to their photo shoot. "Owen..." She stood up on her toes again so her lips could reach his. This time their kiss was softer and slower, with his arms completely around her waist and both of her hands caressing his cheeks and ears. She opened her eyes when she saw the reflection of her engagement ring on her left hand. "This will be a nice prop for the photo shoot." She winked at him and ran inside to fix her makeup from all the crying she had just done. She walked back outside five minutes later and with Owen, walked hand in hand back to the yard to join Zia and the two little girls who were waiting patiently for their parents to return to them.

Zia spent the next hour shooting the four of them in various poses together. First up, was the picture Owen and Maisie had been eager to have ever since he had the idea to propose to Claire in the middle of the photo shoot. Claire and Owen stood facing, their bodies tight against each other's, kissing while Claire held her left palm out and turned the ring around so the diamond could be seen in the picture. Maisie sat in the grass in the foreground with Aiden in her lap while she held up the sign she made that said "SHE SAID YES!" on it. Zia snapped some pictures of Owen holding Aiden in the air while Claire stood behind him and held onto his arm and looked up at her smiling infant. There were some of Claire holding Aiden in the air. There were some of Maisie hanging on to Owen's back while he ran around the yard with her. Her laugh was so infectious, especially the faster he ran with her attached to him. Claire looked on as he ran around the backyard with Maisie clinging to his back for dear life. She was happy that this child, who suffered so much trauma and loss at such a young age was able to find some happiness in her life again and that she and Owen could be the ones to provide her with that joy. They took some family pictures sitting on the ground all leaning into each other with Aiden sitting in Claire's lap. Zia shot a couple of photos of Claire and Maisie walking towards the lake holding hands. Zia snapped one picture that she knew would symbolize so much for Claire. She caught them in an embrace where Maisie wrapped both of her arms around Claire's waist and leaned her head on Claire's chest. Claire looked down at her and smiled, then leaned closer and kissed Maisie on her head. This child was the beginning of a new life for Claire. Zia remembered returning from Lockwood's estate and being the one Claire confided in the most besides Owen about her fears of becoming a mother. And here she was almost two years later, having learned and grown so much as a person and as a parent. This woman and this child had a special bond that Zia knew no one would ever be able to break. She took some poses of Claire holding Aiden and even one very intimate photo of Claire nursing her baby without too much exposed, as Aiden had gotten hungry in the middle of all the fun. Owen looked on while Claire nurtured the tiny infant she almost didn't live to see past five minutes old. Aiden was a mirror image of her mother from the day she was born. Owen had a flashback to that day in the hospital when his baby was born and the woman he loved more than anything hemorrhaged and almost left his world. He looked to the sky for a moment and said, "thank you". He was grateful every day for Claire and for her recovery. Zia then shot some photos of Owen with Maisie and Aiden separately and then together, mostly fun, goofy shots of them making Aiden laugh. Then came the photos of Claire with the girls. Owen specifically wanted Zia to make sure these shots were to be as intimate as possible. Claire held Aiden on her hip in one shot with Maisie wrapped in her other arm looking up at her sister. Claire then sat on the ground Indian style with Aiden in her lap while Maisie wrapped her arms around Claire's neck from behind. Claire had one hand across Aiden's tummy to help her sit upright and the other holding onto Maisie's arm. The one Owen knew was his favorite as it was being shot was a little while later after Aiden fell into a milk coma and drifted off to sleep. Claire laid on her back in the grass with her long, gorgeous, wavy hair fanned out around her with Aiden curled up on her chest sleeping and Maisie lying in her arm. Claire had her eyes closed and was kissing Maisie on her forehead while Maisie looked at her sister and smiled watching her sleep. Zia stood over them, with one foot on each side of Claire's waist on the ground and snapped the picture from above. That was the picture Owen knew out of all the pictures they took that day would be his and Claire's favorite. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

They had planned on finishing the photo shoot by late morning and going out for lunch, but after the proposal and the whirlwind that surrounded it, they broke for lunch inside the cabin and ate Owen's famous grilled cheese sandwiches instead. Aiden napped while they enjoyed some down time on the back porch. Owen tried to peek at the tiny screen on the back of Zia's camera to see what the pictures they had taken so far looked like. "Back off, dude! You'll see them soon enough. I'm going to send them all to Claire's email by tomorrow after I edit them and you guys can choose which ones you want prints of and I'll get them printed for you. Until then, these are a secret!" "Zia, let me know how much the prints are," Claire diligently remarked. Zia reminded Claire that this was a gift and that she was not going to accept any money in exchange for the pictures. However, she had another idea up her sleeve. "You're not paying me, but you know that raise you mentioned?" She winked at Claire and Claire laughed. "You are slick, Zia. Very slick! But yes, I'll get that into effect on Monday when we get back to work."

They finished the photo shoot a little later on in the afternoon dressed in their "casual" plaid attire as Claire called it. Maisie got to take some pictures in her new white Chucks. Zia caught one shot of Maisie jumping in the air with the lake in the background. Claire and Owen both knew that was going to be Maisie's favorite picture. Claire and Owen took some more pictures together as a newly engaged couple. Owen would have never pictured his new fiancé to be the type to wear country style plaid shirts but for some reason she owned a few and he loved the way she looked in them. The photo shoot turned out to be an all day event and as the sun started to set over the lake, Zia shot some gorgeous photos of Owen and Claire leaning their heads together with the sun reflecting in between their faces. Claire brought her hands up to both sides of Owen's face and kissed him. Her red locks glistened so bright in the reflection of the sunset behind her, and Owen thought he might die of too much beauty standing in front of him.

Everyone finally settled into the cabin that evening to relax. Owen and Claire sat on the couch together with Aiden while Maisie laid on the rug in the middle of the living room drawing pictures of dinosaurs and some of her other favorite animals. Claire bought her a sketch pad for Christmas after noticing that she was drawing pictures on her lined school paper. Maisie fell in love with it and had filled it half full so far. Zia hung around for a little while and then retreated back to the van, camera and laptop in tow. "I'm going to leave you guys to have some quality family time and go edit these gorgeous pictures. Claire, do you mind if I share a few of these on my website? I think a few of the shots with all four of you in them and maybe a few of the engagement pictures would help add to my repertoire!" Claire agreed to let Zia use some of the pictures for her site, as long as Claire approved them first. She knew Zia wouldn't put anything too intimate or private out there for the whole world to see, but she still had that need for control over everything, and Zia knew that. She learned a long time ago not to get in the way of her boss's battle for authority. Shortly before she left she noticed Claire and Owen holding hands on the couch while Aiden slept across Claire's chest. She decided to ask Maisie if she wanted to spend the night with her in the van again to offer Claire and Owen some alone time. "Claire, can I go with Zia, please?" Claire and Owen looked at each other and agreed to it. "Mais, you let Zia work on her photos and don't pester her too much, okay?" Owen sounded almost firm in his conditions on letting Maisie hang out with Zia in the van outside for the night. Claire squeezed his hand a little tighter to reassure him that Maisie would behave herself. "I promise!" Maisie grabbed her tablet from the coffee table and took Zia's hand to leave.

Owen looked down at Claire rubbing her infant's back with her left hand while still using her right hand to hold onto him. The ring looked so good on her finger, and he couldn't believe he pulled it off, even though his nerves caused him to forget a few of his words. She said yes regardless. That's all that mattered in the end. Claire was lost in a trance looking down at her baby and her left hand as the ring glimmered every time she swayed it gently up and down her child's back. Owen leaned in and closed his eyes and kissed Claire on her temple. He softly said, "Today was-" Claire finished his sentence. "a day I will never forget." She turned her gaze from her baby to her fiancé and sat up straighter on the couch to kiss him. "I'm going to put this one down for the night in her crib and then-" This time Owen finished her sentence. "I'm going to put you down for the night." Claire knew what he meant by those words. She watched as his devilish grin grew wider on his face. When it came to her relationship with Owen, Claire always played it cool and never liked to admit it out loud that she was completely whipped for the man sitting next to her on the couch, even though deep down in her heart, she knew better. However, that night she wanted nothing more than for him to take her to bed and make love to her. She wanted to make love to him. She wanted them to become one that night.

They were both pretty tired from the long day of taking pictures outside, but they both wanted each other that night more than they wanted to sleep. Claire put Aiden in her crib next door to hers and Owen's bedroom and turned on the baby monitor so she could hear if Aiden woke up at any point during the night. She turned around to find Owen standing behind her. He brought his hands up to her face to kiss her and then proceeded to slowly remove every garment of clothing on her body as she did the same to him. They spent the night wrapped in each other, tangled in the sheets, making love, talking, laughing, holding hands, making more love and finally falling asleep together, again with Claire's head on Owen's chest and her hand over his heart. This day had been one Claire didn't see coming, but just before she fell asleep that night she thought about the board shorts that started everything pretty roughly for them. Then she thought about how far they'd come both individually and together over the course of the past couple of years. She thought about everything they'd been through, both good and bad, and the family they unintentionally created together that changed both of their lives, only for the better. Yes, this was the only man she felt she could and would ever say yes to. He had drifted off to sleep a few minutes before her and she kissed him on his neck and could smell her own scent of vanilla against his skin. She knew how much he loved her. No one in her life had ever shown her that much love. Life was not all flowers and bows, she knew that too. Yes, they were still working on their relationship, learning how to compromise on certain things and learning that what was best for their children was more important than their fight for control. The dinosaurs still needed help. Claire's job kept her focused and busy. She was not going to give up the fight for dinosaur rights and safety. The world was still a massive collection of chaos. However, every time that man said he loved her, her world became a little more calm and endearing. Owen was always better at showing his affection on the outside than Claire was and she only hoped that he knew how much she loved him in return. She felt his heart beat under the palm of her hand and let her self succumb to the exhaustion that had kicked in. Aiden slept through the night and so did her parents, holding each other's hands and each other's hearts.


	7. CHAPTER 7

SUNDAY

Owen woke up Sunday morning around 6:30am to an empty arm. He lied on his back for a few moments letting his eyes adjust to the light coming into the room through the window. Eventually he turned his head to see his whole world sitting a few feet away from him breastfeeding their baby in their bed. She was so entranced in her daughter that she didn't notice Owen had woken up next to her. She was sitting up straight with her back against the headboard of their king sized bed, and he sat up and scooted over next to her. He put his arm around her and she sleepily rested her head on his shoulder. "Morning, babe." She hummed in response to him. "Hmm, good morning. I could have slept a few more hours, but somebody was hungry." Claire looked down and smiled at her hungry infant. Owen watched Claire as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes while Aiden continued to suck as if it was the last meal she was ever going to get. He then focused his attention on his baby girl. She looked up at him with her big green eyes that matched her mother's. He gently ran the palm of his hand over her head, still with nothing more than a little bit of auburn colored peach fuzz on top of it. He marveled at how amazing DNA and genetics were. She was literally a miniature version of Claire. All the technology that had been created, used and abused to create intentional chaos and the greatest technology lied right there inside of them. "Can you believe we made this beautiful little girl, Claire?" Claire opened her eyes and looked up at him and then back down at Aiden. The infant locked eyes with Claire and smiled behind her mother's breast. Claire looked back up at Owen and kissed him. "No I can't. Every day I look at her and still can't believe we created this beautiful miracle. She is the product of our love, Owen. I wish Maisie was the product of our love too." Owen could see the sadness in her eyes. "Claire, she is the product of our love. We may not have been the ones who gave her life but like you said, life gave her to us. If I didn't love you so damn much, I would have never gone back to that island with you, and God knows what would have happened. I know you would have survived either way because you're the strongest person I know, but who knows what the circumstances would have been and you might not have ever found Maisie. So you see? We were together when we found her and when she found us. I had decided long ago before the incident even took place that I wanted a life with you, Claire. So it was all meant to be. She is just as much the product of our love as this child is." Claire knew that, and she loved Maisie no less than Aiden, but she just wished she would have been the one to bring her into the world and hold her as a baby and love her from the second she was born. "I know, I just wish we could have known her sooner so we could have loved her longer." Owen reached his hand up behind her and used it to lean her head back on his shoulder. "I know babe. I do too. We missed out on the first nine years of her life but we get to experience many years going forward with her and call her our own." Claire smiled slightly and shook her head in agreement. She dozed back off on his shoulder for a few minutes and then Aiden fell asleep still attached to Claire's breast. Owen didn't pull Aiden away from Claire. He let them both rest for a little while, watching them both sleep soundly in his arm. He thought about how Claire was still the same person he knew back on the island, except he still couldn't believe how much she had changed when it came to her maternal instincts. The one thing she didn't know if she could ever handle was becoming a mother. However, as he watched Aiden shift a little in Claire's arm and reach for her finger to hold her mother's hand, he couldn't help but smile. Not only did his daughter look just like her mother, she was a Mama's girl too. She knew where her food source came from and Claire had a little more padding on her chest for Aiden to snuggle up into than Owen did, obviously, which Aiden loved. Maybe when she got older she would turn more into a Daddy's girl. He hoped, but he didn't mind if she didn't because he loved to see the woman who at one time didn't know what to do with two teenagers for one day suddenly nurture and love a baby so much it hurt. Claire was an amazing mother. Owen planned on making sure Aiden knew what her mother went through to bring her into the world too, just as soon as she was old enough to understand.

Owen laid his head back against the headboard of their bed and closed his eyes. Their bedroom was quiet for a little while. About an hour later, Claire woke back up. It was almost 8:00am. She pried her infant off of her chest and laid her on Owen's chest. He had fallen back asleep. She sat up and looked at him and then down at the ring on her finger. She couldn't help but smile. She leaned over and kissed him against his temple and then kissed her sleeping bundle of joy on her head and slowly got out of bed, careful not wake them. She grabbed her cell phone off the night stand and walked into the living room dressed in a tank top and a pair of pajama shorts. She peeked out the window to the front yard where Owen's RV sat adjacent to the cabin. Everything appeared to be quiet, as she didn't see any lights on or any shadows moving around inside. Claire then went to the back door and stepped outside onto the back porch. She sat down in the swing Owen built and let her bare feet dangle as she slowly glided back and forth. She opened the camera app on her phone and snapped a picture of her left hand with the ring glistening in the morning sun that was blaring over the mountain peak in the distance. She hesitated at first, but eventually hit the send button, sending the picture to her sister with the text, "So, will you be my maid of honor?" Karen lived in Wisconsin where it was a couple minutes past 10:00am at the time Claire sent the text. She knew if Karen was anywhere near her phone, she was going to be screaming in Claire's ear within less than a minute. Claire was right. She counted the seconds in her head and when she got to 49 her phone rang. She quickly answered it. "Claire Elizabeth Grady!" Claire unintentionally cut her sister a look through the phone even though she knew Karen couldn't see it. "Whoa, that's going to be Dearing-Grady, Karen! And by the way, good morning to you too." Karen was too excited for words. She kept stumbling over her questions wanting to know every detail of what happened. Claire told her everything, including about the sign Maisie had made. "Oh Claire Bear, look at you with your little family!" Claire rolled her eyes through the phone. "Shut up, Karen." Her sister tried to tell her years ago that she would have a family one day and she swore up and down she would prove her sister wrong. However, she knew she had failed at that promise and knew her sister enjoyed rubbing it in her face all the time. Karen then let the conversation take a more serious turn. As the big sister she was, she had to make sure her little sister was okay. "Claire, are you happy? I know you love Owen more than anything, but is this what you really want? I know untraditional you are about these kinds of things." Claire thought about that question for a second. Owen had asked her the same thing after the proposal yesterday. She felt bad that she had been so vocal about her thoughts on marriage and children in the past that everyone around her still questioned the fact that she had truly changed. Owen knew her better than anyone. He saw the change in her with his own eyes over the last couple of years. He just wanted to make sure was okay with the title of "fiancé" or "wife". Claire took a deep breath and answered her sister with nothing but truth and honesty in her voice. "I am happy, Karen. I am very happy." Karen started crying a little and Claire begged her to stop. "Karen, please stop. You're going to make me cry." "Claire, it's just that, you were so shut off from everyone for a long time and I know how hard you worked and still do and just everything you've been through and-" Claire cut her sister off. "But all of that led to this. I can't imagine my life without Owen in it anymore. I've never stopped loving him, even when we were broken up for that one year. He still drives me crazy sometimes but I know I do the same to him. We've had our ups and downs and still continue to, but what couple doesn't? We talked about the possibility of marriage shortly after I found out I was pregnant with Aiden so I knew, knowing him, that it was coming sooner or later. I had plenty of time to think about whether this is something I truly want or not, and I decided a long time ago that it is. I've had my answer and my mind made up for some time now. This is what I want, Karen." Karen then made Claire promise her she would not break Owen's heart. "Karen, aren't you supposed to be telling Owen not to break my heart? I'm your little sister!" Karen laughed wholeheartedly through the phone. "Claire Bear, that hunk built you a cabin and almost died of fear when he thought you weren't going to make it after Aiden's birth. It's not him I have to worry about! You better not be a runaway bride come wedding day!" Claire laughed and rolled her eyes again. "Hunk, huh? Don't hit on my man, Karen. I don't share!" Karen chuckled at her sister's banter. They talked for a few more minutes until Karen had to go. "Claire, I have to go get these two lazy boys of mine out of bed. They're helping me shovel snow outside today, they just don't know it yet. You have to tell Mom and Dad the good news though!" Claire knew her mother would finally be able to shut up about her daughter not being married, especially since she had two children with him already. She and her mother were complete opposites when it came to that topic. She had already berated Claire once before about having children out of wedlock, as if Claire planned either one of the children that came into her life. They were both a happy surprise. Her mom knew the times were different now, but she was still old fashioned when it came to her family values. Claire understood, but knew in her heart she couldn't just jump into something unless she was ready. And now she was. So what if the children came before the marriage? Maisie and Aiden had only made her relationship with Owen stronger anyway, so Claire figured she'd done it her way and succeeded. "I'll call Mom and Dad and tell them later. I promise. Don't you dare say anything to them in the meantime." Karen promised she wouldn't and let her sister go. "I love you, Claire. I'm glad you're happy. You deserve to be loved just as much as anyone else. Congrats, baby sister! I'll talk to you later. We have a wedding to plan!"

Claire hung up and thought about what her sister had just said to her. She deserved to be loved as much as anyone else. Sometimes she didn't feel worthy of the love in her life. She wondered how someone could love a control freak like her. Then she remembered the man who loved her was a control freak too. They were just two crazy alphas in the world trying to take turns being the other one's beta occasionally. Claire rocked back and forth on the swing for a few more minutes, trying to hold back the tears that were welling up in her sea foam green eyes. Just then she heard the back door open behind her and turned around to find Owen with the portable baby monitor in his hand. "Hey babe, I finally found you." He walked around to the swing and sat down next to Claire. He extended his arm across the back of the swing to allow her to scoot in closer to him. She gave him a curious look, assuming he didn't just leave their daughter in their bed. "I put Aiden back in her crib." He pointed to Claire's chest. "Whatever you put in there this time really knocked her out. She's sleeping like a baby." Claire gave Owen a slight smirk. "Well I'm glad to know she's sleeping like a baby since she is a baby." She then rested her hand across her chest and wrapped her other hand in his. "As for what she ate, there's nothing new in here. I think she just had a big day yesterday and she's just trying to catch up today." Owen looked out across the lake. "Yeah, we all had a big day yesterday, didn't we?" Claire hummed in response and laid her head on his shoulder. "Hey," he pulled away from her a little to force her head back up so she could look at him. He then leaned in and kissed her softly on her lips. "I love you, Claire." Claire leaned back in to him with that shy smile that sent him into orbit every time he saw it on her face. "I love you too, Owen." They swung together on the swing for a few more minutes quietly enjoying the morning sun. It was February, but oddly enough, it wasn't too terribly cold outside. Owen used his feet on the ground to push the swing back and forth while Claire's dangled a few inches off the concrete of their back porch. "Did you call your sister yet?" Claire shifted her weight and pulled her right leg up into the swing. As she crossed it under her left leg, Owen noticed the scar on her thigh and rubbed it gently with his thumb. "Yes, I just got off the phone with her a few minutes before you came out here." Owen knew how Karen would react to the news of his proposal to Claire. "Oh, is she on her way out here right now to help you pick out a dress for the wedding already? What colors have y'all picked out? What flavor is the cake going to be?" Claire let out a huge belly laugh. It was one of his favorite sounds in the world. "Owen, she's very excited and very happy for us. She thinks I'm going to leave you standing at the altar. She made me promise her that I wouldn't do that to you." She raised her hand up to touch his face and kiss him. "And I promise you both I won't." Owen let out his devilish smirk. "Well good because I spent a lot my settlement money on this proposal location!" Claire decided the cabin was where she wanted to not only continue to spend her weekends going forward, but where she also wanted to say "I do" to the man sitting beside her holding her hand. "You spent a lot of money on the wedding location too." Owen's eyes got really big for a moment as he looked at her with a surprised look on his face. "You want to get married here? Isn't it a little uh, rustic for you, Claire? I mean, I took a chance on it for the proposal but I didn't figure you'd wanna actually get married out here." Most of the time Owen and Claire could read each other like an open book, but every once in a while they surprised each other. This was certainly a surprise to him. Owen assumed Claire would want to get married in a big bridal hall with white walls and tables trimmed with gold leaf and violins playing. He would have loved nothing more to marry her a couple of feet from the very spot they were currently sitting in, but he never thought in a million years she would agree to it. "Owen, I don't want a big fuss. That's not who I am. That's not who we are. You know I like to play things cool. Yes, it's true that I like clean, pristine elegant things, but I just want a small ceremony with our families and a few friends and that's it. Honestly, as long as you, Maisie, Aiden and the person who's going to marry us are there, I'm happy. You built this cabin out of love. You have scars on your hands from blisters caused by hammering for days on end and putting up beams and laying shingles and installing this swing we're sitting in. Trust me, it will be classy. And it will be white because you know me." He cocked his head, letting her know he knew her when it came to fancy events. She used to orchestrate some of the fundraising events at Jurassic World, and she made sure every detail was incredible. The woman was completely insatiable. "But it will also be soft and inviting and relaxed because my overbearing mother will be here so I have to make it as relaxing as I can so I don't lose my mind." Owen couldn't help but laugh at the fact that she was already worried about her mother's need to drive her crazy.

Just then they heard a voice from inside the cabin. "Knock, knock!" It was Maisie and Zia, laptop in tow. "We're coming!" Claire and Owen got up from the swing and went back inside the cabin to greet them. Maisie walked up to Claire and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Good morning, sweetie. You sound like you're still sleepy." Maisie moaned into Claire's stomach. "What time did you go to sleep last night or should I say this morning?" She gave Zia a disapproving look. "Hey, I made her go to bed as soon as we got back to the van last night! Whether she actually went to sleep right away, I don't know. I was up most of the night myself editing these beautiful pictures of you guys!" Claire's face lit up. She wanted to see the photos right away. Owen had the bright idea of making breakfast for everyone before looking through all of the pictures Zia took. Claire groaned, but agreed to breakfast first. Owen grabbed a can of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls out of the refrigerator door and turned on the oven. "These will take ten minutes to bake and then we can all eat and enjoy the show!" Owen tried to keep his cool but he was just as ready to view the pictures as Claire was. Claire heard Aiden fussing in her nursery a few minutes later and went to get her up. She re-emerged with her baby dressed in a lavender footed sleeper with dinosaur spikes across the back. "I've never seen a purple dinosaur before, Claire." Claire corrected Zia. "Barney was purple and so was Little Foot. My Peanut's in good company!" "I stand corrected," Zia quipped. Claire bounced Aiden on her hip as Maisie sat at the kitchen island across from her and played peek a boo with her sister.

The time had finally come. Breakfast was over, and Zia spent the next ten minutes trying to hook her laptop up to the television in the living room. "Ugh, where is Franklin when I need him?" She finally got everything connected and sat down next to Claire on the couch. Owen sat on Claire's other side while Maisie sat Indian style on the ottoman in front of them. Aiden bounced around happily in Claire's lap and spotted the buttons on Zia's keyboard and reached over to try to touch them. Claire grabbed her hand and sat her back upright in her lap. "Oh no, Peanut, if you erase all of Mommy pictures, I'll have to cut you off from what's under this shirt for remainder of your baby life!" Zia and Maisie laughed, but Owen used Claire's playful remark as a way to jokingly antagonize his oldest daughter and fiancé. "Oh no, Zia, looks like I've got a third one who likes to press important buttons." Zia tucked her lips into her mouth, trying not to laugh, even though the certain button he was referring to resulted in the release of several dinosaurs onto U.S. land. Claire and Maisie shot Owen a harrowing look. "Can we just focus on the photos, please?" Owen felt a shiver down his back. Claire unintentionally said those words in the same tone she had said "Can we just focus on the asset please" the day she came to his bungalow to take him to view the Indominus paddock. He felt it was almost eery the way it rolled off her tongue. It was just another reminder of how different things were between then and now. Her focus in her work was on something so much greater now. She had shifted from wanting to make money off of those beautiful creatures to wanting to save their lives. Owen knew he was in a little bit of trouble with his remark but as soon as the first picture popped up on the screen, he knew Claire wouldn't be mad at him for long.

"Alright, here we go!" Zia had prepared an entire slideshow of the pictures to show Claire, Owen and Maisie. Maisie sat up a little straighter on the ottoman and Claire nudged Owen's leg and winked at him, noticing how cute it was that Maisie was just as excited to see the pictures as they were. The first picture that popped up on the television was of the four of them standing with Aiden in Owen's arm and Maisie standing in between him and Claire. Next, were a couple more similar family poses in different variations with Claire holding Aiden and one of them knelt down standing Aiden up in the grass by holding her hands while Maisie stood in the middle, leaning over Claire and Owen's shoulders from behind. Zia had put the pictures together in order of which they were taken mostly. Next came a few poses of Claire and Owen, standing together, then sitting on the ground together, her leaning her body into his a little. Claire noticed Owen getting excited about what was about to come next. And there it was, the first of several shots Zia grabbed as Owen dug the ring from his pocket as Claire turned back around to face him so he could propose to her. "Aww!" Maisie turned around to face the two adults on the couch behind her. Owen nudged Claire's knee with his knee. "I guess I'm pretty romantic, huh?" Claire gave him her famous eye roll/smile combination and they kept going. Zia literally captured the entire proposal almost frame by frame. Claire saw the tears in Owen's eyes in one of the pictures as he tried to get his words out on one knee on the ground. She reached for his hand on the couch and squeezed it tightly. He squeezed right back. Once they finished looking through all of the proposal shots, Zia paused the slideshow for a moment. "I need some tissue. Claire you got any tissues lying around this place?" Claire and Owen laughed at how even Zia was getting choked up at the pictures. Zia finally composed herself and the photo shoot viewing got back under way. Maisie was especially ecstatic over the pictures with her sign in them. Claire's personal favorite was the one of her kissing Owen with her arm stretched out showing her hand with the ring on it in focus while their faces were out of focus in the background. They all "oohed and awwed" over the pictures of Maisie by herself, Aiden by herself, each of them with the kids, and the rest of the engagement pictures. Claire teared up after a little while and waved her hand in front of her face. "Oh my God, I'm not supposed to be this soft." She gently slapped Owen on his leg. "See what you've done to me?" Owen made Zia pass Claire the tissue box. "You think you're soft now, just wait for what's probably coming next." He was right. After the more playful pictures of him with the girls came the pictures of Claire with the girls. Owen glanced quickly at each one as Zia scrolled through them, but he made a point to cut his eyes toward Claire to see how she was reacting. He could tell she was getting emotional more with each picture that passed. The picture of Maisie hugging Claire while she kissed her daughter on top of her head forced one tear to fall down Claire's cheek. The picture of Claire holding Aiden above her head as she and her baby exchanged the biggest of smiles forced the shy smirk Owen was so familiar with across her face. Then came the pictures of Claire with both of her girls. "My sweet girls-" Claire spoke softly, trying not to let her voice crack. Finally the picture Owen knew would send Claire over the edge popped up on their television screen. Claire slowly brought her hand up and placed it over her mouth. She tried to keep her composure but lost it very quickly. It was the picture of Aiden sleeping across her chest with Maisie lying in her arm looking at her sister while Claire closed her eyes and kissed her older child on her head. "Zia-" Claire tried to get her words out but was at a loss for words. Maisie turned around on the ottoman to face Claire and Owen. She climbed down after seeing Claire sobbing and wiggled her way in between her and Zia on the couch. "Claire, it's okay." Maisie's sweet, soft voice tried to reassure Claire but she was on the verge of inconsolable. "Maisie, I love sweetie. I love you so much. You and your sister are...Zia, that is beautiful. Just-" Maisie wrapped her arm through Claire's arm and leaned her head into Claire. "You changed my life too, Claire. You and Owen took me in and gave me a home...and love. I love you." Zia glanced over at Owen who was rubbing his eye with his thumb. He was caught in the act. "What? I had something in my eye!" Maisie piped up, "Yeah a tear!" Claire chuckled through her own tears. "Zia, that's going on my desk at work with one of me and Owen and one of the four of us all together. That's the picture that I want to go with the-" Owen and Zia finished Claire's sentence at the same time. "Quote." Claire looked at Owen and nodded her head. "Yes." They finished looking at the rest of the pictures, Claire picking out her favorites as they went along while Zia made notes so she could print the ones Claire wanted hard copies of. Owen had a few requests of his own. Maisie even had a few she wanted to set out on her bookshelf in her room.

Once the viewing party was over, Zia handed Claire a disc with every picture on it she had taken. "Here. I also emailed them all to you too. I'm going to print the ones you want on my lunch break tomorrow." Claire hugged Zia and thanked her immensely for everything she had done that weekend. "Zia, this is something I will cherish forever. Thank you." "You're welcome, Claire. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Hopefully everyone is on time tomorrow. Don't wanna start this week off the way we did last week!" Claire sighed and agreed with Zia as she gave her a goodbye hug. After Zia left, Claire and Owen packed up their weekend belongings so they could head back to the city later that afternoon. They managed to pry Maisie away from her tablet they had reluctantly purchased for her for Christmas two months prior and decided to go for a walk around the lake before heading back to their apartment.

Aiden had spent the entire time everyone was looking at the photo shoot pictures chewing on one of her many teething rings and Claire's finger. After a while she realized no milk was coming out of either one, and she let Claire know she was hungry. It didn't take her long to go from fussy to screaming and Claire quickly calmed her baby's lungs down with some milk and singing. She gently bounced her around the living room and sang lullabies to her while she burped her. After a quick diaper change and another round of "Lullabies by Claire" as Owen liked to call it, Aiden had drifted off in her favorite place, her mother's chest. She nestled her face right into Claire's neck and gripped the fabric of the sweater Claire had thrown on to walk in. Owen carefully placed a crocheted hat his mother had made for her over her tiny head and draped one of her fleece baby blankets over her as Claire held her over her shoulder. "Put your jacket on, Maisie, it's a little cool outside." Maisie rolled her eyes and got caught by Claire who only had to say one word, followed by one look. "Hey-" Claire shot her a discerning look, and Maisie got the point and quickly put her jacket on. Maisie was the most well behaved child Claire and Owen could have ever asked for, but sometimes she just wanted to be a little rebellious. "Okay." Maisie mumbled, and did as she was told. They walked together at first, Owen with his arm draped across Claire's waist as Aiden slept over her shoulder, and Maisie walking briskly just a few feet ahead of them. "This little thing is dead weight when she's asleep!" Claire's arm was getting tired and Owen took Aiden and placed her over his shoulder with her baby blanket across her back. She was lost in a milk induced coma and didn't even realize she had swapped parents. Owen held Aiden up in one arm and reached for Claire's hand with the other. Her fingers found his and their hands were connected like pieces to a puzzle within seconds. They continued to walk hand in hand watching their older child pick up rocks and try to skip them in the lake. Claire spoke softly to Owen so as not to let Maisie hear her. "She really has come a long way, hasn't she?" Owen squinted his eyes under the sun and said, "just like you, Claire." Claire stopped walking and turned to face him. "Owen, you're a big part of that change. I could never have seen myself having children with anyone else. You've made me a better person. I'm still the same person I was before, especially when it comes to my work. It's in my blood. I'm wired to keep going and determined to stay productive. But you forced me to see another side to myself. I've learned to sit back and enjoy the company of those around me sometimes. I've learned to love and be loved back. You taught me that. So thank you." Owen leaned down to plant a kiss on Claire's forehead. "Claire, you deserve to be happy. You deserve to be loved. Thank you for letting me be the person who gets to love you." She closed her eyes and smiled that shy smile that he loved so much. They continued walking hand in hand around the lake, making a few laps until the afternoon sun started setting. "We better get going back to the city before it gets too dark." Claire was always the logical one. Owen sighed as they rounded the last lap of the lake and made their way back inside the cabin to pack up the car and head to the apartment they still called home during the week. Neither of them really wanted to leave the cabin that weekend. It had been a whirlwind of emotions for both of them and they couldn't wait to come back the following weekend.

They made the two hour trip home and arrived just as the sun completely sank beneath the horizon. Aiden continued to sleep for the entire trip. Maisie even fell asleep in the back seat next to her sister, which she rarely ever did when they drove back and forth to the cabin. Claire let Owen drive as she held his right hand the whole way home. They briefly talked about a wedding date, but didn't get too bogged down in any details yet. They mainly spent the two hours in the car enjoying just being next to each other as fiancé and fiancé, no longer just boyfriend and girlfriend. When they pulled into the parking garage that adjoined the condo apartment building they lived in, Owen scooped Maisie up and carried her onto the elevator that took them up to their floor while Claire carried Aiden in her arms. Maisie woke up as they walked in the front door and suddenly decided she was hungry. "What's for dinner?" Owen threw together some of what Claire called his "famous pancakes" and the three of them ate breakfast for dinner. Aiden woke up and chewed on a teething ring as an appetizer until she realized she was hungry too. Claire took Aiden to her nursery to breastfeed her while Maisie helped Owen tidy up the kitchen. Aiden was usually sleepy after eating but since she slept most of the afternoon at the cabin and almost the whole way home she was now wide awake and wanted to play. Claire re-emerged from the nursery and joined Maisie on the couch. Aiden bounced in Claire's lap and leaned over to Maisie who took her and bounced her up and down before carefully picking her up and laying her on her tummy with her blanket on the rug in front of the couch to play with her. Owen finished up in the kitchen and came to sit down next to Claire on the couch. "Babe, bring Aiden's giraffe rattle from her diaper bag, please." Owen grabbed his daughter's favorite toy to chew on from her baby bag on the kitchen counter on his way into the living room. He got down on the ground with both of his daughters and laid on his back, holding Aiden above his head, pulling her down to his face to kiss her and then pushing her back up again. Claire sat curled up on the couch watching the man who spent his first date with her in board shorts trying to get her to down multiple shots of tequila with him, now using the child they created together out of their love for each other as a push up mechanism. Claire wasn't the only one who had changed somewhat. Owen was typical immature guy's guy material when he first met Claire. Now he was a father to two beautiful little girls and a soon to be husband. Claire couldn't help but smile at him as he rolled around on the floor with his baby and ten year old. She closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the laughter that filled the room. She would have never guessed she would say a child's laughter was her favorite sound in the world but it had become just that.

After a few minutes, Owen joined Claire on the couch. She curled up in his arm and continued watching Maisie play with Aiden. "Whew, that little girl gave my arms a workout!" Owen winked at Claire. She reached up and wrapped both hands around his bicep. "Hmm, she sure did. Looks good on you, Mr. Grady." Owen leaned down to kiss her. Maisie quickly grew to love the two adults when they brought her home from the disastrous events that tore through the only place she had ever known, but that weekend at the cabin sealed the deal for her. Her adoptive parents were finally tying the knot. She felt for the first time since before the man she knew as her grandfather had died that she had a real family. Blood meant nothing to Maisie. This was her family. These two adults brought her home without knowing anything about her other than how she was created, and fought hard to get full custody of her and give her love and a new life. She didn't need to share their DNA to love them. They didn't even notice her watching them on the couch having a kissing fest. "You guys need to get a room. That's rated PG-13 and Aiden is only 5 months old." Owen raised an eyebrow at Maisie's joke and said, "And you're only ten!" Maisie laughed and made it clear she was close to being one year closer to thirteen. "Yeah well, I'm almost eleven." Claire couldn't help but laugh at the two of them bantering back and forth with each other. "The point is, it's too grown up for my eyes too." Owen knew better. "Mais, you've seen us kiss plenty of times before. It wasn't too grown up for your eyes yesterday when I proposed to Claire and you got to hold up your sign!" Maisie giggled and let Owen know she was just messing with him. Claire and Owen made sure they never got into a situation where they could get caught doing anything too intimate that Maisie didn't need to see. Any time they spent their night in bed engaging in activities other than sleeping they made sure their bedroom door was locked and never made any displays of affection they felt were too grown up for her to see in general. Owen knew kissing Claire was innocent. "Hey, Mais, isn't it close to your bedtime anyway?" Maisie grumbled and got up from the living room floor with Aiden. "I'm gonna go take a bath first." She handed Aiden back to Claire, and Owen playfully fist pumped her on her way out of the room. He and Claire played with Aiden on the couch for a while until their infant started to get sleepy again. Claire got up to give her baby a bath. Owen brought her a clean diaper and footed sleeper. They were a good team. They had always been a good team. He watched the woman who swore she would never go on a second date with him bounce their baby around their apartment, her engagement ring glistening in the reflection of every light in the room that hit it. He still couldn't believe the sight in front of him sometimes.

Claire put Aiden down in her crib for the night and then returned to sit next to Owen on the couch. A few minutes later, Maisie emerged again to say goodnight to her parents. "Goodnight, Owen. Goodnight, Claire." They both said goodnight to her and she made her way to bed. Right before she turned the corner to go down the hallway to her bedroom she stopped, turned around and said, "Hey Claire? Thank you again for saying 'yes'." Claire winked at her little girl and said, "No problem, sweetie." The kids were both in bed for the night and Owen was ready to take Claire to bed himself. "You wanna retire early tonight, babe?" He had his arm around her on the couch and let it wander down around her waist and then to her hip. Claire closed her eyes and leaned her head into his neck. "Hmmm, you tired?" He pressed his lips against hers, and she could feel his hand wandering from her hip back up to her waist. He sarcastically responded to her question. "I'm exhausted, can you tell?" Claire smiled as she bit his lip. She stood up and reached for his hand and led him to their bedroom. They crawled in bed and Owen began to plant kisses all over Claire's body. "Owen?" He stopped what he was doing and glanced down at the beautiful red head under him, thinking she was about to say something romantic. "You smell like vanilla." He couldn't help but chuckle at his fiancé. "That's because I've been curled next up to you all weekend, cutie." She reached up, caressed his cheeks with both of her hands, kissed him softly and said, "You're pretty cute too, Mr. Grady." It had been a week of highs and lows, ups and downs. Tomorrow would start a new week and a new phase of life for them. Tonight they would get lost in each other and forget the world outside for just a little while again. Owen woke up a few hours later, Claire's naked body pressed against his. He glanced down to see her sleeping soundly, her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest. Once again, they were both in their favorite sleeping position. The only thing different about it this time was that there was a ring on her hand glistening against his chest. He whispered the same words to his sleeping partner in crime that Maisie had spoken to her a few hours earlier before she went to bed. "Thank you for saying yes." Claire stirred a little in his arm but didn't wake up. Owen rested his head against hers and fell back to sleep, ready to wake up in the morning and start the next chapter of his life with the woman in his arms who was trying to save the world. He hoped she knew how much she saved his world every day. She was his ride or die. In case she didn't know enough, he planned to show her again on their wedding day and every day going forward for the rest of their lives.


End file.
